Subway Stories

Too many entertaining things happen on the subway to not start writing them down.

This morning, I saw a woman look up from the bible she was reading (a surprisingly large number of people read the bible or the Torah or the Koran on the train in the morning. Never too early for God, I suppose) and offer her seat to a woman that was standing up. The standing woman looked surprised, glanced around to make sure that she was in fact the one being spoken to, and then politely declined. As an outside observer, I realized that the seated woman had mistakenly thought that the overweight standing woman was pregnant. Ouch. I was embarrassed for both of them.

Earlier this week, a man proposed to me on my way to the subway. It was Monday morning, I had woken up 15 minutes prior and was already late for work. His name was Willy, and he wasn’t particularly attractive. I turned him down. He followed my rejection with, “Okay, well, next time let me buy you a drink or something.” Yes, Willy, next time I run into you in a crosswalk on Atlantic Ave. at 9:30 in the morning, we’ll totally go for beers.