Yellow Sweater

As soon as I walk out the building, it seems to be a busy morning all around me. Workers are climbing up and down the wobbly ladder leaning against the scaffolding at 110 Bennett, a woman is training her dog with a large stick, and at the corner of Overlook and 186th a there is full size Con Edison crew, complete with tractor, that has dug up a large chunk of the ground. The putrid smell of gas is in the air all around me.

Rebecca S. is nearby and we meet up across the street. She is wearing a bright yellow scarf sweater except it’s not a sweater, it’s a t-shirt. She tells me it’s called a “t-shirt with a scarf.” It looks great and I want to photograph it for my blog, but Rebecca won’t let.

We both walk into the station together, chatting more about her clothes and random other topics. On the platform, I see Benny S and wave. Rebecca sees a friend that is moving into a new apartment this week, and stops to chat with him for a moment. Then we run in Zehava K. and I stop to talk to her. As the train arrives, Rebecca continues further on, towards the front, by herself.

Zehava gets a seat and I stand next to her. She asks about my trip and if I got to see Matt in Israel. Matt left Israel the day I arrived there, I tell her, and he left New York the day I got back, but we did manage to catch each other for about an hour right after I landed. She also tells me she thinks Rebecca’s shirt is great and I should mention it in my blog. When a seat finally opens up across from Zehava, I grab it, and she slips on her headphones I slip mine on too. Holding up my Blackberry for her to see I’m listening to the soundtrack from Once, which I know she loves, I slowly fade into “Falling Slowly.”