Ushers

by Joe Hill

“Martin, did you speak to anyone before you got on the train?” “You’re wondering about Mrs. Giovanni. Look, I know what she said on Instagram, but it’s not true.” “You didn’t warn her and her daughter not to get on the train?” “No.” “Why would she tell an NBC news affiliate that you did?” “I didn’t say anything to Mrs. Giovanni,” Martin said. “Not one word! I had a brief conversation with her daughter. Like, thirty seconds. She asked if I was all right, and I said, ‘I can’t get on the train.’” “Mrs. Giovanni says you told her and her daughter not to get on the train. She said, and I’m quoting her here”—Duvall plucked up a sheet of paper next to Oates’s notepad—“‘The boy said please don’t get on the train. If you get on that train, you and your daughter are going to die.’” “No. Uh-uh. She made that up,” Martin said. “I told her daughter, I said, ‘I can’t get on the train. I feel like if I get on that train, something bad is going to happen.’ Mrs. Giovanni wasn’t even standing with us. She was in line for bagels, ten feet from us. How could she tell anyone exactly what I said?” “It’s a funny thing to lie about.”