Tuesday, July 14

Wrinkles and Gym

I'm on the train already and the only person I've seen so far is Lisa K. I'm not even completely certain it was her, since she was way ahead of me on Overlook. Next to me on the left is a plump woman in a purple and white striped shirt with a black jacket over it. She is wearing black pants and black shoes, and is reading a book by Joseph Finder. On the other side a bleach-blond woman is reading the paper. She has beige sandals that cover her two smallest toes on either foot and forces two others to curl in an odd direction. The wrinkles above her lips say she is the reason is smells like smoke.

The plump woman gets off at 168th and I slide into her seat so that I can lean on the wall. A man in a plaid shirt squeezes into the middle seat, between me and the smoker. He is large, rugged, and scruffy, with a white towel in his hands that I would swear was missing from the inventory of a local gym. He settles in with no menacing gestures.

Across from us a picture perfect American couple is talking to a man named Bill. Bill gets off at 59th, as do I, but they are staying on till 14th street. I wait on the platform for the next train and after about 10 minutes both the B and D arrive simultaneously. They both ride on the same route from this station and when this happens, commuters are never sure which will be the first to exit the station. On rare occasions I can see the stop lights towards the front of the platform, or an announcement is made. Today, however, I must rely on guesswork. The B or the D? The B or the D? I can't decide. The B or the D? Finally, I hop onto the D and it turns out I'm lucky, but it just goes to show that decisions are the hardest choicest we ever have to make.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

ely, the way to tell is the 3 orange lights along the train platforms. If they're on, the train is being held, so get onto the other one.

kidmuto said...

i know, but if i'm not towards the front of the train i can't see them because of the curve on the track.

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