Ftrain, by Paul Ford

It is possible in New York City to obtain a passport in a single day. I pay $200 to a fair-skinned woman in an office on 48th St - call Passport Plus, somewhere in the phone book, if you need this for yourself. She needs to see my airplane ticket, birth certificate, driver’s license, and two photos of my face. The office is small, a single room about the size of my apartment.

Her name is Susan. She is Jewish, average height, with brown hair. Near her are: a fat man in his late 40s or early 50s; a young Anglo woman with a nose ring; and a middle-aged black woman speaking patois-inflected English. I judge them by their faces and bodies.

Their business is getting people out of the country as quickly as possible. Susan asks for cash only. I count out 10 20s.

The walls are solid with signed photos of celebrities. Frank Sinatra and the Village People smile next to one another. Alan Alda has written out a florid statement of grateful praise to the right of his warm, even grin.

“You have an appointment at 8:30 at Hudson St. Don’t be late. What you do is go down there tomorrow morning. You take a number. Give them your paperwork and $95 cash. Make sure to give them the ticket. That is $35 extra for the rush. They will take your birth certificate. Then come back here on the 1 train and give us your receipt. We will pick up the passport and birth certificate after 3pm. You return here and the passport is in the office by 5. We close at 5:30. I have written this on your envelope. The passport agents will speak to you from behind thick sheets of plexiglas, thick enough to stop exploding bullets and small explosives. You will respond in the affirmative and sign your name. In this agency I will have helped you. You will hover over an ocean, cramped into a seat designed for the smaller and shorter. 7 miles between your body and the floor of the sea. This system for acquiring passports is a machine and the airplanes are machines,” she said, “but you are the most delicate, paying cargo, no machine at all.”