Speonk!
I'm going on my seventh year of riding the LIRR daily. Sure there was a year of not doing it because I was at Genesis and also the few months when dad fired me from the Surge, but basically it's been seven years of commuting. The first year of commuting is done by myself but the second year I join my dad on the Port Jeff line every morning at 720. We would sit side by side in the comfy double-decker, him with the Post, me with Harry Potter, and we would ride in companionable silence.
One day on our way home from a grueling day at the Surge, dad spies a man asleep diagonal from us. Now this guy isn't just sleeping, he is totally passed out, head back, mouth open at an odd angle with drool escaping the side of his mouth. Dad rouses me from Hogwarts to look at the man. He tells me he is always afraid to fall asleep on the train like that because he fears he would miss his stop and end up in Speonk.
Speonk is a town on the south shore of Long Island that neighbors the Hamptons. It's properly pronounced Spe-yonk but we pronounce it much like the way we pronounce HOUSE! There's the "Spe" part said normally then the "onk" part shouted obnoxiously. It's done this way because apparently my father has heard a conductor yell it out in this manner before reaching the stop. Even though dad's fear is reasonable because no one wants to miss their stop, get off at the next one, go to the opposite platform and wait for the next train to take them back, it's also impossible considering Speonk isn't even on the Port Jeff line. Speonk isn't even on the north shore where we live. If dad's fear of ending up in Speonk were true, he would have to sleepwalk off the current train and change in Hicksville for the Montauk line or if he got onto the Babylon line instead would also have to absentmindedly transfer in Babylon to reach this destination of Speonk. I'm not sure if dad's fear is of sleepwalk-transfer or just missing his stop. I also think dad chooses Speonk because it's more fun to say rather than Port Jefferson.
Only 21 and still learning the ropes of the MTA, Dad leans in close to me to get his point across in a whisper. "You'd be sleeping soundly and then all of a sudden-" his voice changes to max volume "Spe-ONK!" He then pretends to jerk his body awake, look around with wide-eyed fear on his face, then make for the door. I laugh at his antics and our first private joke of train humor is born.
Almost six years later, I'm on the train home to Farmingdale, alone, different branch from when I used to ride with dad. Before hitting Jamaica I finish Naruto Volume 42 and instead of picking up the next volume, I decide to rest my tired eyes. I close up my reading glasses in their matching case and toss it into the Barnes & Noble bag. As I drift off to sleep, my last thought is to touch the bag with my fingertips because I am afraid someone might steal it or I'll leave it behind when I get off.
I'm totally out. I must have my head back, mouth open at an odd angle, definitely a line of drool pooling in my shirt collar, when I get this feeling I should wake up NOW! I look out the window at the opposite platform and blink away the sleep. Huh, we're in Bethpage already. That's crazy, I missed the Mineola and Hicksville stops too, I must have been really out-
Panic seizes my chest. A look of horror washes over my face and my body just reacts.
Spe-ONK!
I'm out of my seat in a flash, both bags in hand, darting down the aisle just in time to make it out the door at the Farmingdale station. As the train doors close behind me I laugh as my heart pounds in my chest. In my seven years of doing this everyday, I've never come this close to missing my stop. As I walk towards Pedey I whip out my phone and dial a number. I know he's flying from Miami to NY right now but there's only one person who could understand what just happened.
Beep. "Dad...I just totally had a Spe-ONK! moment..."
One day on our way home from a grueling day at the Surge, dad spies a man asleep diagonal from us. Now this guy isn't just sleeping, he is totally passed out, head back, mouth open at an odd angle with drool escaping the side of his mouth. Dad rouses me from Hogwarts to look at the man. He tells me he is always afraid to fall asleep on the train like that because he fears he would miss his stop and end up in Speonk.
Speonk is a town on the south shore of Long Island that neighbors the Hamptons. It's properly pronounced Spe-yonk but we pronounce it much like the way we pronounce HOUSE! There's the "Spe" part said normally then the "onk" part shouted obnoxiously. It's done this way because apparently my father has heard a conductor yell it out in this manner before reaching the stop. Even though dad's fear is reasonable because no one wants to miss their stop, get off at the next one, go to the opposite platform and wait for the next train to take them back, it's also impossible considering Speonk isn't even on the Port Jeff line. Speonk isn't even on the north shore where we live. If dad's fear of ending up in Speonk were true, he would have to sleepwalk off the current train and change in Hicksville for the Montauk line or if he got onto the Babylon line instead would also have to absentmindedly transfer in Babylon to reach this destination of Speonk. I'm not sure if dad's fear is of sleepwalk-transfer or just missing his stop. I also think dad chooses Speonk because it's more fun to say rather than Port Jefferson.
Only 21 and still learning the ropes of the MTA, Dad leans in close to me to get his point across in a whisper. "You'd be sleeping soundly and then all of a sudden-" his voice changes to max volume "Spe-ONK!" He then pretends to jerk his body awake, look around with wide-eyed fear on his face, then make for the door. I laugh at his antics and our first private joke of train humor is born.
Almost six years later, I'm on the train home to Farmingdale, alone, different branch from when I used to ride with dad. Before hitting Jamaica I finish Naruto Volume 42 and instead of picking up the next volume, I decide to rest my tired eyes. I close up my reading glasses in their matching case and toss it into the Barnes & Noble bag. As I drift off to sleep, my last thought is to touch the bag with my fingertips because I am afraid someone might steal it or I'll leave it behind when I get off.
I'm totally out. I must have my head back, mouth open at an odd angle, definitely a line of drool pooling in my shirt collar, when I get this feeling I should wake up NOW! I look out the window at the opposite platform and blink away the sleep. Huh, we're in Bethpage already. That's crazy, I missed the Mineola and Hicksville stops too, I must have been really out-
Panic seizes my chest. A look of horror washes over my face and my body just reacts.
Spe-ONK!
I'm out of my seat in a flash, both bags in hand, darting down the aisle just in time to make it out the door at the Farmingdale station. As the train doors close behind me I laugh as my heart pounds in my chest. In my seven years of doing this everyday, I've never come this close to missing my stop. As I walk towards Pedey I whip out my phone and dial a number. I know he's flying from Miami to NY right now but there's only one person who could understand what just happened.
Beep. "Dad...I just totally had a Spe-ONK! moment..."