New Shades

I'm wearing new sunglasses today. They are actually not new - I bought them in Israel last time I was there - but this is essentially the first time I wear them.

On the way to the A, I notice the hood ornament on a Mercedes Benz. I haven't seen one of those since the early 80's, when there was a black market for these types of things. There is a woman walking nearby with her child. She says, "Mommy is going to peepee again and we're going to peepee all day."

I get into the station and onto the platform, and decide a picture of the new shades might be a good idea. I start taking pictures of myself from all sorts of weird angles, sometimes with flash, sometimes without. People look at strangely at me as they walk by, but one man in particular parks himself behind me and just stares. I can tell he thinks I am a terrorist. He thinks I'm only posing as a Jew, and only pretending to take my own picture on the subway. Really, I must be gathering intelligence for some evil plot. Four more pictures and the man is still there, his overzealous glare strong as ever. He is going to call the police; I move on.

On the train there is a homeless man. He is tired and weathered and looks older than he really is, and his head is bopping up and down as he dozes off. Without a supermarket cart or any other baggage, he is the sort of homeless that can't always be differentiated from a settled, residential person that just happens to be a bit scruffy, soiled, and stenchy. It's his afro that gives him away in the end; no one with access to a shower would let their hair get so dusty.