The man who counted the last train

0:00 I cleaned offices at night for two years,

0:02 and every shift I passed the same man on the

0:06 platform at ten past one.

0:07 He never took a train.

0:10 One night I finally asked.

0:12 He said his wife had worked late her whole

0:15 life,

0:15 and he had met her off the last train every

0:18 single day for thirty-one years.

0:20 She died in the spring.

0:22 He still came,

0:23 because the walk home was the part they

0:26 actually talked.

0:27 I said I was sorry.

0:29 He said not to be,

0:30 that it was a good habit and he intended to

0:33 keep it.

0:34 Then the train came in empty,

0:37 and we both watched it leave.