Every morning I take the 6 AM train to my internship in the city. I wake up at 5:30 AM, comb my hair, put on my makeup, and pull on some pantyhose, before grabbing my breakfast (banana, granola bar, yogurt) and walking down to the nearby subway station. One of my favorite parts of the morning is watching the people, who like me, are awake with the sun.
As I walk towards the station, I pass by a guard who I always exchange a “good morning” with. I don’t know his name, but he has become a constant in my life. As I head down the escalator and walk down the long pathway and stairs to the subway platform, I look out for three people. These three people are actually strangers, but I’ve come to take a special interest in them after observing them every morning for a few weeks.
The first one is a rather petite young man–a boy, really–a young Chinese immigrant, I would guess. Every morning he wears a loose-fitting black suit, and carries a black backpack with an orange imprint of a coffee mug on it—the Java logo. I’ve never even exchanged a glance with him, not to mention a word, but I’ve already prepared a life for him. He’s from the northeast of China, and came to the US for graduate school. He now works at a bank on Wall Street as a quant trader.
The other two are a pair. They’re not yet married or dating, but they will be. They make small talk in Chinese as they wait for the train every morning.
I observe the young woman every morning because of what she wears. She’s not pretty. She has a rather sideways face with squished features. But she is striking because she has a very bold sense of fashion. A few days ago she wore a fitted white dress matched with a long blue blazer embellished with gold buttons. Instead of heels, she wore gladiator sandals that had about 50 white straps interlaced with tan ones all the way from her toes to her ankles. She’s a trader at a Wall Street firm I believe—otherwise she wouldn’t be talking about CDS at this hour.
The young man is pleasantly plump, but well-dressed. Every morning, he wears a fitted suit. White dress shirt, black slacks. Shined shoes.
As we board the train to work, I find a seat next to a man slumped over his Metro newspaper. The young Chinese boy sits quietly diagonally across from me. The man and the woman follow me in and stand by the door. Every morning they stand and talk to each other, even if there are seats available. The man complains about how the traders are rude and demanding. He must be in a tech support position. The woman consoles him with the fact that traders are naturally stressed and time-pressed at most times of day. I close my eyes and listen to the familiar tone of Mandarin as I catch a few moments of shut-eye before we arrive at the final stop.
I have yet to figure out their names, where they actually work, what they actually do, or where they are from, but I feel a real affinity to them that comes from our common goals. We are all up in the morning, riding the train, chasing a dream, chasing happiness. I doubt that any of us knows what that dream is yet, or where we can find happiness, but we are trying to figure it out. In the meantime, what I’ve taken from my trips to work is that riding to work with people you know—or want to get to know—can make things that much more interesting. Maybe I’ll work up the energy to introduce myself next time.
每天凌晨，我会搭六点的地铁去上班。因为办公室是在城市里，我得五点半起床，梳洗，化妆，更衣，再抢几分钟来找些早餐﹣香蕉，酸奶类似，简单与方便﹣在冲往地铁站。这整个次序中我就喜爱的就是研究那些与我相同，与太阳起床的人们。
在地铁站有位保安人员。每天早上我会对他打个招呼，可是我连他的名字也不晓得。虽然如此，他可是我生命中的一个指南针。降下楼梯和迈向地铁站时，我就会无意中的寻找三个人。他们其实根本就不认识我，而我也不认识他们，但是这几个星期的时间内，因为每天早上见到他们，我开始对他们感觉一些亲切感。
第一个呢，是个矮小的男生；我想应该叫他个少年还比较正确吧。如果得猜测的话，他有可能是个最近从大陆来的移民士吧！他每天早上的衣着从来没改变过：一个松软的黑西装，和一个黑色的背包。这背包可独特，因为它有个橙色的咖啡杯标志。这是JAVA的标志，而因此我为他建造了一整个人生故事；他本拉是从中国北东部来的，为了毕学业而来到美国。他现在是为一家华尔街的银行工作。但是我从来没与这位我想像中的交易员交换过一句话，所以这是真是假，我也不晓得。
下两个是一双配；还没结婚，也还没开始交往，但这只是个时间的问题，迟早会如此。每天早上他们等火车是会聊天，两人世界。
我每天都会特地注意这位女生。不是因为她长得特别漂亮，因为她的样子其实不帅。可是她最突出的优点是她的衣着。她时髦得很！几天前她穿上个白色，合身的裙子，配起个较长的蓝色杰克，钮扣金色，非常配！鞋子呢更独特；她戴上一双罗马角斗士的拖鞋，不穿高跟鞋。这双拖鞋有大概五十个白色和五十个褐色的莲子，白色追褐色，从脚指到脚腕，很优雅。相信她应该是个华尔街的交易员吧。不然的话，怎么会在这个时间讨论信用违约掉期呢？
男生呢，是胖了点，但是也是穿着得挺帅的。他平时会穿上个和身的西装。白色衬衫，黑色裤子，皮鞋亮得很。
上车时，我的座位在个读报纸都到睡着的男生。矮小的大陆移民静静地坐在我隔壁，男女俩跟着我进来－可是他们会站在门口附近。他们好像比较喜欢站着；就算是有座位他们也不会坐下。男生会埋怨所有的交易员，说他们无理取闹，要求太高，礼貌太少，态度太差。应该是电脑技术支持的员工吧。他的朋友会尽量安慰他，说明这些人着急是挺自然的，因为他们时间不多，得应付顾客和上司的要求。我闭上眼睛，边听着熟悉的华语，边趁机休息会儿，直到我们抵达最后一站。
到现在我还没问到他们的名字，或他们真正的工作，或他们的来源，可是每天早上见到这些面熟地陌生人时，我总是觉得我们有种缘分。因为我们都在追求同样的东西：早上起床，追车，追梦，追幸福。这幸福会有什么形状我们可不懂，在那儿可找到我们也不知，可是我们都在追，都在尽力而为地追。到时看到，找到时，我们会懂。现在我可学到的是连与几个陌生人上班也有它的有趣。可能以后我会鼓起勇气，自我介绍。明天吧！