Useful trains run on time
Bullet Train“Useful trains run on time” is Lemon’s maxim for reliability, expressed as a rule of communication as well as punctuality. When plans change, someone should let the others know; in the scene aboard the train, that expectation makes Lemon’s silence significant to Tangerine.
Meaning and Use
The saying is tied to Lemon’s view that useful trains keep to their schedule. Its practical corollary is that a change of track should be reported, if not beforehand then as soon as possible. The maxim therefore describes more than arriving on time: it sets an expectation that a person whose plans shift will communicate the change.
The Test of Lemon’s Silence
Tangerine considers that Lemon might have followed someone who came out of the toilet, perhaps after making a snap decision based on instinct. Yet if Lemon had left the plan behind to pursue a suspect, Tangerine expects him to get in touch. Lemon may be lazy and sloppy, Tangerine reflects, but when plans change he always calls.
Tangerine takes out his phone and stares at it; there are no calls. The maxim turns that empty screen into evidence of a broken routine, though the scene does not yet explain Lemon’s absence. At that moment a schoolkid receives a call and steps beside the train door. Tangerine, wanting to get away from the nuisance, turns and moves on, leaving the contrast between the expected check-in and the call he does not receive unresolved.
