A Trainful of Strangers Author:Eleanor Hull There was a shrieking of iron wheels on iron tracks. The subway train stopped. The lights went out. Then the emergency lights came on, pale and sickly, and the carful of people looked at each other through the murky shadows. — There were eight young people among the usual varieties of older people--Dobbs Henry and James from the slums of Harlem; ... more »Susan and Hal, brother and sister from the suburbs; John, a bright but shy boy; Terry, the son of a Yonkers; and Cecilia, a Puerto Rican girl. All but James and Dobbs Henry were going to the Science Searchlight TV Program.
The forty-five minutes the eight spent in the stalled train were enough to make them miss the program and enough to make them something less than strangers. By the time they parted there was almost an agreement to meet the next Saturday. But from Saturday to Saturday is seven long days; a lot can happen, and did.« less