On the way to work, the train I was riding somehow lost its lights at the mouth of the Market Street subway. The insides of both cars were suddenly totally enveloped in darkness, and as the train picked up speed underground, slipping past flashes of fluorescent bulbs on the walls of the tunnel, it became too dark to see anyone’s face.

I loved it.

It continued for five stops, all the way to the other side. From where I stood at the very back of the second car, I looked up to the front and as the train emerged into bright sunlight, I watched as the train was gradually lit up again, one row of seats at a time.