Joviality

Florid-faced, backslapping, laughing uproariously at the slightest attempt at wit. Booming, boisterous, empty. Eight or ten people whose only thing in common is the forced familiarity of a commuter train. They tell themselves, over and over again, that they have found friendship, camaraderie, connection. Although the train is fairly full, their raucous half of the car is one-fourth empty, and not without reason.

"We're going out for a few if you'd like to join us," one says to two others on the platform after climbing down from the train. Apparently the two tallboys of the past hour aren't enough to fill up a hollow soul.