I love the transportation system out here; truly, these people knew what they were doing when they set it all up. The subway is a world unto itself. You walk down those steps, slide your ticket, and go through the turnstile into another universe. Down there, time doesn't exist (unless you are running late to get somewhere, and then you stand at the edge of the waiting platform, looking desperately into the dark tunnel, hoping to spot those headlights coming at you with the characteristic 'whoosh') People are always in movement; musicians are peddling their lyrical wares as life flows around them. Anything goes in this underworld, and I have seen many interesting goings-on. For the sake of brevity, I'm only going to list a few, but each encounter left me wondering what exactly this subway culture was all about.
It was my first night on my own here, and it was late; well, Stef late, not average 26yr. old late. It was pushing 11:30pm. In NYC, the night was just getting started, but for me, I was finding my way home after meeting a friend and her boyfriend in SoHo for drinks. They had given me instructions on how to get back to my neck of the woods, and it sounded pretty straightforward to me. 'Take the such-and-such til X stop; then transfer to the so-and-so and you should be home in half-an-hour, tops." Since I was talking to two experienced New Yorkers, I had no qualms, and set off for home. En route, however, I was waylaid by Paramount Pictures, who decided that they needed to film their latest movie right by the subway station I needed, and had furthermore decided to cordon off a multi-block radius. Since I didn't recognize any of the stars in the movie, I moved on, in search of another station. I found one, got on the right train, and thought I made a successful transfer at the right time. I was wrong. I ended up heading in the exact opposite direction that I needed to go; I was on an express to Queens. Total bummer, as it was getting later, and the amount of time I could sleep before class the next morning was draining away, much like my patience. Half-an-hour later, I was finally headed the right way, after a brief foray into a semi-abandoned part of Queens ( I say semi-abandoned because there were men of various shapes and sizes lurking in doorways and on corners), and as I was waiting to make the right transfer, a group of youths (am I really so old now that I am calling people 'youths'? Oh man.) walked by, three men and a woman. Something struck me as peculiar, and as they got closer, I could see what was up. One of the guys had the woman on a make-shift leash, through her back beltloop. It gave her about a two-foot lead, but that's it. When they stopped in front of me, the guy said to her "Sit! Sit. Sit." And she looked back at him and squatted down. I had to make myself not gape at them, but I was trying to figure out why any woman would take that crap from any guy, and why any guy would think that was cool to treat any human being, man or woman, like that in the first place! I thought maybe they were just messing around, but they were all serious, and the guys pretty much ignored her, besides telling her what to do. I mentioned this to a friend later on, and she said that maybe he was her pimp. He looked pretty poor to be a pimp, but I guess I really don't know what a pimp would look like.
Second strange encounter; I was sitting on the subway, on the way back from my "Walk around and explore Manhattan day because this is probably one of the few days you will actually have time to do it - day" and this young man, yes, a youth, got on. It was a somewhat crowded car, and after he gets on, he stops, pulls out his cologne, and squirts himself with it a few times, before going over to sit next to some girls who look about my age. He was wearing big gold chains, and sunglasses, and apparently trying to look all cool, and the girl he sat next to was turned away from him, mouthing "Oh my GOSH!" to her friends sitting next to her, laughing so hard she was shaking. I was staring, I couldn't help it. Comedic drama was unfolding before me, and I had to get it all! I wanted to see if he was going to follow up his exhaustive prep with actually making a move, but other than generally sitting there, trying to muster up a 'cool' affectation, he didn't really do anything. He got off in a few stops, and some of the girls, when they were getting off at their stop, looked over at me and said, "And I was going to give him your number!" while pointing at me. I busted up, I couldn't help it! It was too funny.
Third scenario, I am on my way to somewhere, now I can't even remember where, and this guy gets on, probably mid-thirties, and sits next to me and gives me the once over. I'm thinking, "Oh, brother, here we go" and steeling myself up for what I figured would be an interesting exchange. I wasn't disappointed. He starts in on 'where are you from', etc. etc. and he tells me about himself and a friend that won't talk to him anymore, and all this stuff, and I am politely nodding and saying "Umm-humm" at appropriate intervals, and he asks what brought me to the city and I say school and he says where and I say "Columbia" and he says "Oh, so you are waaaaaay out of my league, but I guess I can still talk to you, right?" and continues to make more comments about how I think I'm better than him and am being condescending. Now, I was like, "Lord, am I? Is there something in my attitude or behavior towards this guy that is coming across as superior?" And then I thought, "Alright, Stef, get a grip. God correct me please if I am being arrogant, but this is just weird, and I am humoring this guy, and I can't wait until my stop comes..." It was a looooooong couple of stops, and even then, I was going to get off early so that he wouldn't know what stop was mine, but around my area is not the safest area, so I decided to just get off. At this point, I'd had enough, and I wanted to go home, where there was normalcy and men who don't need to be in counseling of some sort. I do pray that God finds him some help, though.
So, those are some of my subway stories. Life continues on here; school is getting busier but I love it, and I need to go to bed. Who knows what interesting folks I'll meet on the subway tomorrow, and I need to have my energy up to meet the challenge that some of them obviously present!
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