Today in Review
A man armed with two battery-powered saws, according to all kinds of news reports, including this one, attacked another man on a subway early this morning while I was still sleeping. The victim, who survived the attack, is quoted by the CNN story as saying "I think he was out of his mind." You think? And the subway keeps getting interesting. Actually, "interesting" is a tired word. Try getting through the day without saying it. It doesn't just keep getting interesting. It just continues to be. What contributes to the connotation it has (not sure if that's necessarily positive or negative) is the people who ride it. The woman who leans up against the short wall that borders the seats without regard for the freedom their bags take in their assault of you. The man who begs for money on the R train every day. The same R train you ride. And just when you think you won't see him again, there he is. "Are you stalking me?" The man and woman who don't mind an audience for their argument. Waiting for the R train on my way home, there was an empty seat next to me. A woman, followed by her nicely dressed-in-a-suit boyfriend, rushes into it and yanks the metro card from his hand. He then hands her a box of Altoids and she yanks them with an equal amount of anger. He sits next to her as the express N train pulls in and begins to speak, unfortunately thinking the roar of the train will conceal his forthcoming question. (It does not.) "What's wrong with you know?" Oh, you poor, dumb boy. Her answer is much louder than his question. But she is not embarrassed. And if he is, it doesn't show. Because he keeps goading her. Poor, dumb boy. They continue arguing, he not getting a word in edgewise. Yet it is most definitely a small-group effort. A baby's crying, which begins at DeKalb, finishes off my ride home. And I write this in my bedroom with the windows open to let in today's rare breeze free of humidity. I hear a horn that, I think, has been blowing too long, something I don't realize until I hear the exclamation of the honker: "You fuckin' idiot!" Sigh
