The Paris Metro lines are almost 200 km long, with more than 360 stations, and 4.5 million passengers travel on them every day. An underground railway in a metropolis like Paris is a true transport blessing.
Is it safe? One should ask what form of transport is one hundred percent safe today. Since the attack on the WTC, even more notices have appeared in the Metro warning about unattended packages and bags, along with a request to report any such abandoned luggage to staff immediately. Besides, one should ask the four and a half million people who travel by Metro every day what they think about their safety underground.
Considering all the circumstances and the possibility of terrorist attacks, one could conclude that this form of travel puts one’s health, or even life, at risk. Therefore, viewed in this light, a woman clinging stubbornly to an Art Nouveau Metro railing and staring at the tour guide with panic in her eyes should not have surprised anyone. And yet she surprised everyone, above all her husband, whose gentle words failed to reach his panicked wife. The woman clenched her hands around the railing and refused to cooperate.
The group blocked the entrance to the Metro. Some stood on the stairs, obstructing traffic; some were already by the ticket machines and barriers leading to the platform; others stood on the pavement and watched the guide and the husband struggle with the panicked tourist.
— Ma’am, travelling by Metro is completely safe — the guide assured the woman, in time with her husband’s nodding. — Please believe me.
— I don’t believe you! — the tourist protested without taking her hands off the railing.
— Why? — the guide asked.
— You’re saying that to drag me in there — the woman replied.
The undeniable truth of this briefly threw the guide off track, while the husband of the woman refusing to enter the Metro stopped nodding like a car mascot, which concerned the part of the group watching the negotiations.
— Yes, I would like you to come into the Metro with us — the guide replied. Her knowledge of negotiations came mainly from the film “The Negotiator,” and she remembered that one should not contradict the person one was negotiating with.
— Darling — the panicked woman’s husband came to her aid — we will all go with you.
— No! — came the reply.
— I was afraid to enter the Metro the first time too — the guide lied, following the lessons of the cinematic negotiator and identifying with the panicked terrorist, which had the desired effect.
— Really? — the woman asked, interested for the first time.
— Yes. It’s an irrational kind of fear, but studying the Metro map helped me — the guide held the Metro map under the woman’s nose, with little faith that the bluff would work.
— I don’t understand any of this — the woman glanced at the map and shook her head.
The guide gave the husband a meaningful look, and he understood. He took the Metro map from her and began studying it with interest.
— It’s easy, isn’t it? — the guide addressed the husband.
— Oh… — he hesitated, but after noticing lightning in the guide’s eyes, he quickly added — very easy.
His expression nevertheless conveyed a complete lack of understanding, with not even a shadow of awareness of what he was holding. Fortunately, he was an excellent actor. He looked at the map once more and nodded convincingly.
— Yes, it’s very simple! — he repeated with impressive conviction.
Out of the corner of her eye, the guide watched the tourist’s hands, which slowly began to loosen their grip. She gave the man a meaningful look, and together, without unnecessary haste, they gently took the tourist’s hands, then held her by the arms and calmly led her down the stairs. The husband carried the Metro map in front of his wife like a banner. The darkness of the underground slowly swallowed them.
When I told this story to a fellow guide, he responded with an even more terrifying one. His tourist, who, as it turned out, had stopped taking the medication prescribed by her psychiatrist after leaving on the trip, lunged at the driver in the middle of the night while the coach was travelling, a sweater in her hand. Fortunately, she was subdued. As she claimed, she wanted to immobilize the driver and stop him from killing all the passengers. She returned to her country tied to her seat with the same sweater with which she had attacked the driver.
Grażyna Hanaf