I Survived the Metro Derailment

At 3:47, more than 90 minutes into the ordeal, we walked to the rescue train, calmly moving past a pregnant woman who was suffering under the heat and strain. By 4:19, we rolled into the next station and medical attention was offered to anybody who needed it.

"We're on TV," a guy said his wife had just told him. "Oh cool," said another man, "if I stick my arm out here . . . "

And then a rescue worker offered bottles of water. "Probably get arrested," said a passenger aware of the no-drinking rule. Said another, "Mind you, get that water in you, and you've got a long way to go."

This, of course, echoed the sage advice I got by e-mail from my wife at 3:54. "Sorry for the trouble," she said of my predicament, "and so close to home yet."

"You never know what happens once you board Metro," she wrote, launching into one of her Lessons for Life. "That's why I always hit the bathroom."

-- Ken Herman

Arlington