Vanpool: Origins

Today, a new woman is sitting in shotgun. She’s about 40, with bobbed black hair and is fairly cougar-ish.

When we approach Totowa, she laughs.

“Charlie, do you remember that I was the first person on The Vanpool?”

She turns to us.

“I used to wait at the stop in Pine Brook. Every morning for about a month, Charlie would pull up in his van. He’d roll down the window and would offer me a ride to New York.”

“I always shook my head no. I used to tell my husband every night about this. He was really upset and insisted that I called the police.”

“But one morning, I don’t know why, but I decided to get into the van. And that’s how this started.”

Norman, the black guy who wears loose-fitting button-down shirts, laughs.

“That’s how he lured me in, too.”