1.87. A man is returning from Switzerland by train. If he had been in a non-smoking car he would have died. (DVS; MC wording)
1.87 answer: The man used to be blind; he's now returning from an eye operation which restored his sight. He's spent all his money on the operation, so when the train (which has no internal lighting) goes through a tunnel he at first thinks he's gone blind again and almost decides to kill himself. Fortunately, the light of the cigarettes people are smoking convinces him that he can still see.
1.87a. Variant: A man dies on a train he does not ordinarily catch.
1.87a answer: The man (a successful artist) has had an accident in which he injured his eyes. His head is bandaged and he has been warned not to remove the bandages under any circumstances lest the condition be irreversibly aggravated. He catches the train home from the hospital and cannot resist peeking. Seeing nothing at all (the same train-in-tunnel situation as above obtains, but without the glowing cigarettes this time), he assumes he is blinded and kills himself in grief. I like this version a lot, except that it makes much less sense that he'd be traveling alone. (from Bernd Wechner)