This is the magic transportation in New York City that will bring you everywhere within the five boroughs of NYC, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as long as you have the magic Metro Card with enough credit in it. This subway is so old and popular, maybe because the old ones usually are well known, or it might be the complexity and the availability that make it so popular. Another hypothesis is perhaps because the location is in New York. Everybody knows New York.
And maybe because it is in New York, there are always tons of stories (I was going to say drama though) around everywhere. Including the subway. The couples who are kissing each other goodbye in the subway station's stair. The young girl who squeezes while kisses her boyfriend in one of the station's pillars: because love is in the air, even in the stuffy subway station's air. A tourist who hands the big subway route map. The subway musician: some of them are good. The drunken beggar. For me, everything is so entertaining. Looking at the New Yorkers, immigrants, tourists, and whoever they are - how they dress for example - is very amusing.
It was a Saturday night in a summer month when I was getting inside the subway in a rush. I was not busy, but rushing. Just because I had learned that it is the unwritten yet readable law in NY that you should rush. It was around 10pm when the busy hour had passed. So the train was not full; in fact, there were many empty seats.
I settled down and made myself comfortable inside one of the cars. Some people, not too many, were there in the same car with me. I used to peek around a little bit (in everywhere I am in instant). Which I think it is normal, people do that everywhere every time. In my case, I do that because of my old habit to observe people; not in the sense of judging, just purely for the sake of vision entertainment. I swept a look for that full air conditioned room. The most interesting thing was actually right in front of my seat.
There were two people (about their late 20's or early 30's) in a not-so-common "sitting" position. A man and a woman. The man was sitting straight up with his head thrown back avoiding the curious eyes from people around (I thought I was the only one). And the woman, she was peacefully curled up sleeping on his lap. It might seemed like quite normal. But it was their look. The man, he had a Hollywood face. I mean, he looked like an actor or a model: white, handsome, tall, perfect face line. But in the very humble outfit. His left hand was tenderly holding the sleeping lady, keeping her in that comfort position. That hand, it wasn't seemed to be washed regularly based on it's long and black nail tip.
I looked at the woman. I wanted to make sure that she really fell asleep. Apparently, she did. It could be a long day for her. Similar to the man's hand, this woman's hair was not looked to be washed regularly. I might had seen and observed too much. But I believed that these looks were also the reason why others were peeking on them.
I did not stop there. Of course, my curious mind won't stop. My eyes caught a backpack laid under the seat, more precisely under the woman's feet. And then I found something that turned me mellow for the rest of the night and many times after when I remember that scene. I saw a sheet of brown cardboard emerged from that backpack, too big to be hidden inside. There was some handwriting note with black marker on it. My heart skipped it's beat. That cardboard was obviously the typical one you see the homeless people hold on the road, asking for some mercy tips.
I bowed my head down as my heart cried. I just could not imagine how hard their life was. I didn't have an idea how long she had been sleeping there. Or had they had eaten something that night. Soon enough, a couple of stations, the man gently woke the woman up. Maybe he was not very comfortable with the look that he got. The woman (still sleepy with her eyes red) put her shoes up and right after the train stopped, they left.
They left me there mused.
Wondering how their life; how their love; and how their love life was going.
I wanted to say happy Saturday night to them. May the richness of love and happiness was and always be in their heart.
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| Picture source: nypost.com |
Manhattan-KS, 092316
