Well, you said you wanted to hear a story.

Welcome to Rumble Strip, Vermont.

This is Erica Heilman.

Today we have a story that was originally told live on stage at Ex Tempo,

Central Vermont's excellent live storytelling event.

It's a true story about disparate lives intersecting.

It's a story about two men late at night on a train.

Here's Otto Trauts.

I was in New York City a few years ago. I was in Manhattan. I was there to hear some music. My daughter was playing with a group in a club downtown Manhattan.

And it was a good show. At 1.30 in the morning I stumbled out onto the empty streets of Manhattan looking for a subway to go up to my 85-year-old

aunt's apartment where I was going to spend the night or what was left of it. And eventually I found a subway entrance and I went down

and it was pretty much deserted down there.

There's no one in the token booth,

so I had to use the machine. and I put in a couple of bucks and nothing came out.

I put in another couple of bucks, nothing came out.

And I started pounding on the machine and a voice came over towards me and said,

Yo, you got a problem?

And I said, yeah, I've got a problem.

I'm trying to get a token out of the machine.

Not getting anything. He says, come with me. I'll get you in. And I'm thinking, how's he going to get me in?

And I look over there.

Who is this guy?

...