{"id":1278,"date":"2019-06-25T01:54:53","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T01:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/?p=1278"},"modified":"2019-06-10T13:58:50","modified_gmt":"2019-06-10T13:58:50","slug":"service-by-anthony-palma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/2019\/06\/25\/service-by-anthony-palma\/","title":{"rendered":"Service by Anthony Palma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anthony Palma\u2019s work attempts to bridge the gap between poetry, music, and other forms. He teaches writing at several universities in the Greater Philadelphia area. He resides in West Chester PA with his wife and family. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Service<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James slept\nbetter than he had in weeks, which was probably why he overslept. With the\ntrain leaving in 20 minutes, he\u2019d have to move. He grabbed a protein bar and a\nbanana, washed his face, threw on gym clothes, hid the mess of his hair under\nthe first hat he could grab, and 12 minutes later he was out the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The\ntrain that he took was a later one than usual, and the car was already full of\ncommuters from the suburbs. However, his seat was still empty. It was turned\nsideways near the front of the car and had a clear view of both exits. He\nsettled in and embraced his anonymity. The woman sitting in the row next to his\nseat didn\u2019t even look up. Her attire told him she was on her way to an office. Someday,\nhe\u2019d get there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Two\nstops later, it was standing room only. It was then he noticed the man staring\nat him. He was about 4 rows towards the back of the car on the aisle, facing\nJames. The man\u2019s travel partner, maybe his daughter, played on her phone in the\nwindow seat. Every time James looked over, the man looked away. The man made\nJames uncomfortable. He was, after all, sitting in a seat reserved for the\nphysically disabled. Would the man confront him? James tensed. The train\nsuddenly felt crowded, and he felt exposed. His eyes darted from exit to exit.\nThe train slowed, and the man got up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cSir\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            James\nleapt into the current of people, spilling him out onto the platform. In his\nanxiety, he headed towards the wrong escalator. When he realized his mistake,\nhe turned around and there the man was, girl beside him. The man reached out\nhis hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cSir,\nI just wanted to say thank you for your service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            How\u2026?<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hat. His\nfriend had gotten it for him when they were discharged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The\nman stood there, hand outstretched. Everyone around the two men stopped. They,\ntoo, were waiting. Without a word, James pushed past the man. He went through\nthe doors and rushed up the escalator, up the stairs, and into the street. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Back\non the platform, the man stood bewildered, his hand still outstretched. Passersby\napologized for James, said he had been rude to the man, and scurried on their\nway. The man\u2019s daughter sighed and looked at her phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James didn\u2019t stop until he reached the gym. According to his self-appointed schedule, he was four minutes late. He passed the desk and the treadmills. Amidst the exercise bikes he came to a stop. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to become lost and forgotten among\u00a0the whirring machines, and the sound of the weights that dropped to the ground like bombs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony Palma\u2019s work attempts to bridge the gap between poetry, music, and other forms. He teaches writing at several universities in the Greater Philadelphia area. He resides in West Chester PA with his wife and family. Service James slept better than he had in weeks, which was probably why he overslept. With the train leaving … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa867U-kC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1278"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1282,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions\/1282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}