Love Train

Red line metro, bound for Glenmont.
Across the aisle from me, two black men, 30s-40s, have a conversation in French. After the Brookland/CUA stop, a guy comes up to them.

"Scuse me, but you gentlemen look like you're about my age. I wanna ask you something."

This, to my mind, prefaces two things:
(1) a story that ends in a plea for funding. Except this guy didn't look like he needed it.
(2) a personal interview that leads to the promotion of the Word of God.

"There's this song, see. And I need to know the words, because I wanna sing it to my girl. I know the tune, but I don't know all the words."

The French-speaking men look politely at him. He begins to sing.

"Killing me softly with his song, killing me softly..."

The train pulls into the next stop, Fort Totten. A huge group of college-age kids gets on. The girls wear strings of red beads. They're probably all heading out for Valentine's Day festivities, though it doesn't look like any two of them are a couple.

The guy finishes the song.
The French-speaking men have no idea what song he's talking about. Of course I know what song it is, but I don't know the words either.
"No?" He sings the refrain again.

The girls pick it up right away. Thank god for the remake.
They perform a full-on rendition, hand-clapping included, beginning to end. Seriously, the whole car claps along as they teach this guy the words.

The song finishes as we pull into the next station, Takoma. As we pile out of the car, the guy thanks the girls. The French-speaking dudes still have no idea what is going on, but seem amused.

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all commuters.