08 That Fridge
We got in the underground subway station and found all the hallways and platforms full of people. Again, many women and children, everyone had a blanket on the floor, or a chair; some people were sleeping, others were eating or playing cards. We waited for the train, hopped in, and traveled to the railway station. When we got off the subway, we hadn’t even left the station and we checked the news, subway service had been suspended in all lines in the city. We barely made it.
Once in the railway station, we were walking on the passageway above all the tracks, and we saw that a train was about to arrive, the platform for that train was packed. When the train came, a lot of people ran to that platform. Rita read that trains were basically free for all, so we were going to have to push our way through. We went to a waiting area, typically reserved only for people taking the train to the Boryspil Airport, but this time it was open, without anyone at the door checking for tickets. Our tickets were for the afternoon, and it was still morning, so we knew we had some time. We sat there and re-shifted our plan. We realized that we were missing a couple of documents from the apartment, so we decided to run the risk and take a cab back and forth, using the plan we made to get in and out of the apartment in 20 minutes max.
We called a cab using the Uklon app, and the driver agreed to wait for us outside our building and bring us back. Once there, we ran inside, going directly to the things we knew we were missing. Looking over the shelf with important stuff I saw the keys from the apartment in New York, which I didn’t even know I didn’t have. My mind leaped into the future and I saw ourselves needing those keys at some point, I tossed them in my backpack. I grabbed a huge trash bag and went to empty whatever was left in the fridge, we had a lot of cooked food, chicken, vegetables, fruits, milk, cheese, olives. I can’t remember how many things went into the trash bag along with plates, cups, and forks. I just wanted to avoid a future infestation, and I knew that anything in that fridge we could replace. I didn’t even tell Rita that I tossed some dishes, she will find out eventually.
We came back outside, I tossed the giant bag of trash in the containers, and the cab drove us back to the railway station. The city looked very normal near the center, if anything it looked a little lonely, eerily quiet, but there were still a few cars in the street. All businesses closed. Few people walking.