"We'll be fine!"

It all started this morning... B, L and I took the 1:30 train down to Bcn. We met A (these code names are starting to get to me!) there, and headed off to a different town nearby. They have this amazing, once-a-year event, where they reconstruct life in Badalona during the Roman Empire. Its VERY convincing to see these people get dressed up as ancient Romans, believe me! I felt like I had flown back a good couple millennium and landed in the busy harbor-city life of old Baetulo.

Although that was utterly fascinating, I have to admit that coming home was even more exciting. It all began (and always seems to begin) when A left us. As soon as he was out of site, things started going from bad to worse. It always happens: someone stares creepishly at B, someone almost falls onto L, etc. Today, it was obviously my turn.

A had heard of our little "post-A's-disappearance adventures", and armed with with two little pictures of himself (it was a good idea...), and then set us off on a wild goose chase. Not only did he KNOW that the train he told us to take back was dangerous at night (so he lets three girls brave their way home), but, he got us on the wrong train. Then, at the train station back in Badalona, before we were even on the "homebound" train, things turned to chaos.
8:30pm:
One train pulled up next to Platform 1. Everyone else hops on. Train 1 stops, and doesn't look like it is about to start any time soon. Train 2 pulls in on the other side of the platform, pointed in the SAME direction as Train 1. This NEVER happens, and sure as heck SHOULDN'T happen. So, then, everyone from train 1--who has seen that that one was going no where--migrated to Train 2. Picture the Exodus. You got it? Add two trains, and one platform. Everyone and their dog ran to the other train. THAT one decided to stop as well. Both of them just sat there for over a half hour. Finally, Train 1 started moving, so EVERYONE, now on Train 2, ran over to Train 1. Doors swung open and closed again, only to be reopened by hysterical passenger-wannabes. That one left. The other one sat there for a while, then left.
9:00
"Our" train--namely, the one A told us to take to save the 5E it costs to go back to Bcn and then back up to our normal stop--pulls in. We all get on, A gets off at the next stop, and L, B, and I sit in a corner, looking grumpy and as intimidating as we can. Of course, this is when I realize that I have lost my phone. Not even my phone, but my dad's phone. We spent the next hour's ride thinking WHEN I could have lost it. But, none of them seemed likely--unless someone somehow opened my purse flap, opened my zipper, reached in, pushed my bulky camera and my wallet aside, and found the little phone at the bottom, which didn't even feel like a phone.

Everything unraveled from there. B's phone finally gave out, and her battery died. We transfered the, "just-in-case, have-a-person-ready-to-call-and-dialed" part of our defense scheme to L's phone, but, her usually reliable dad hadn't even answered 4 times before when we called at the station. So, I'm glad we didn't get mugged, because we would have been out of luck by then.

We somehow, finally, arrived at the not-usual train station, which was "where God forgot his hat and never bothered to come back for it," and found it to be one of those ghost stations that only exists in terror movies. Lights are all out, we're freaked out as it is, and then, as we're walking towards the station building, this single light appears in one of the dark train wagons. No person, just a light (like a lighter flame). Talk about making one jump. The three of us hurried along, looking as scary as we could as bith a psychological attack (on potential evildoers) and as a defense (to make us feel like we were even remotely safe). We got to the station, and, of course, L's dad wasn't there yet. Also, there was literally NO WAY to get out of there, because there were just train tracks on every side, and the little crossing area that one would THINK you could use said, "DO NOT PASS." Go figure.

Past 10:30... What to do, what to do? We ended up befriending two random guys that were trying to get to Girona (an impossible feat that spoke Spanish with a German accent, but I then later heard speak English flawlessly--just my luck--and this random, jolly old station employee who didn't stop chatting. I have the feeling that he thought we were prostitutes... I just kept getting that feeling. Well, it's not that strange, seeing as the last lady that we saw standing on the platform at that station, who had later found a taxi somehow, WAS one. He was actually quite entertaining, when he wasn't making unnecessary puns. But, I fended off the rude remarks quite admirably, all the while sparing with him verbally, and laughing away as he combined random Spanish, Catalan, and English. We had told him that we were Catalan, but that didn't keep him from inserting random words like "girls" and "New York" into the conversation, no! I think I kind of shocked him when I spoke a line of almost flawless English (I put on an accent for show. L and B almost died laughing). So, here I am, the manager of two top models, ready to board the train to Hawaii, while stopping through Copenhagen, all the while eating spaghetti and singing old "habaneras." Yes, that was the story that we all ended up concocting. It was actually a lot of fun to chat away with this guy. It might sound creepy from your point of view, but we always had us three plus another 4 or 5 people each time we talked, so I felt rather safe, and, quite honestly, thankful for the entertainment. I would have scared myself silly if left only to my thoughts at that place, that time.

11:10
L's dad finally shows up. All three of us girls literally RAN to him, and all gave a sigh of relief at the same time. We miraculously found our way out of that joint and got in the car. We all decided that we should give A his pictures back: instead of keeping bad things from happening to us, they only seemed to heighten our susceptibility to Murphy's Law (which states that, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong"). Our little trip home ended with fireworks. Literally. Up ahead, there was a random, unscheduled fireworks display. It only lasted a minute, but it seemed to mark the end of our little adventure. After all, B's mom had told us to have fun, but to "Keep those adventures to a minimum." We always seem to stumble onto adventures, so we merely replied, "We'll be fine!" I think that lady us better than we know ourselves! And, to end the wonderful whirlwind of experiences for tonight, "Staying Alive" came on the radio as we left the station and saw the fireworks. Talk about a grand finale!