Tagger by Richard MacQuiston

After cracking his head on the grab bar,Tagger tumbled into the entry way between the dining and club cars. He slowly gained his senses.But were they his senses? He lay there confused and disoriented by the blow. He managed to get to his feet and fell into the club car.

He slowly took in the scene in the dimly lit and smoke filled car . He could hear retro 70 music and several passengers talking loudly at the bar. There was some sort of interplay going on between some one at the rear of the car and people seated at a booth.

Tagger stepped further into the car. Suddenly Richard Prior hurried by him followed by Gene Wilder. They were ranting and huffing as they passed him into the dinner. Tagger was pressed into a vacant booth .He sat there in a daze. Jill Claybourg squeezed in beside him.

" Are you okay/" she muttered into his ear as her hand caressed his package. Tagger sank further into the booth.Sweat was dripping from his brow as Jill tongued his ear. He heard a loud voice.
"Cut! Who in hell is that guy? We gotta shoot the whole scene over!" Richard and Gene came back through the club car while Jill quickly pulled her tongue out Tagger's ear , unclasped his heated cod and slipped out of the booth. Tagger was lost in a miasma of train flashbacks...Ryan's Express, Runaway Train, James Bond, Tom Cruise., The Silver Bullet.

"Where in the fuck am I?" Tagger wondered as the train slid into an unknown station, brakes screeching, steam rising around the platform as Anna Karina gazed into the foggy windows.

Surrounded by distraught and hysterical passengers, the crowded car began to
reek of strange orders.Tagger wondered if the smells were toxic and held a
rag saturated with Krylon Black aerosol paint. As he wavered in and out of
consciouness, he imaged a gigantic Wyland sized mural he would compose of
colorful aerosol sprays to
memoralize those brave subway pioneers as they headed
toward a brave new world...maybe the United Nations
building,perhaps the Daily Planet would be perfect for this masterpiece.
He awoke from his stupor in time to exit at the next stop but he stumbled
over the Krylon black and crumpled to the debris on the car floor. Next
stop: Rye and the Hamptons. Or New Delhi . Aloha,Uncle Remus and the Tar
Babies ( an eno retro neo rock group)