Not Subway Love

In the morning, the 6 train is often a horrible mess. Trains are packed, I wait and wait, only to find that sometimes there are too many people packed in to get on. Then two more trains will come in rapid succession, and sometimes the train switches to express after 33rd St, because of traffic ahead, and I have to walk the 12 blocks to the office. Not a big deal, but I just don't understand why the trains can't be timed better. Also, I regularly amazed at the trains that come with loads of room in the middle of the car, dozens of people crammed at the entrance, no one willing to give way at the entrance to make room for more riders. What the hell is wrong with people? Sometimes I push my way through and stand self-rightously in the middle of the car. People glare after I've pushed by, but I just glare right back. Feel the love people.

Subway Love #3

I got on the 4 train uptown tonight after work. There's a couple already on, probably mid-20's. She's got brown hair cut into a cute bob, clipped out of her face with a crystal barrett. He's a bit scruffy, blondish stubble, ski cap, boyish face. As I get on the train, she's sitting, he stands in front of her, and as I pass them, he caresses her face. She looks up and smiles shyly at me, and then at him. She has a cluster of bags in her lap, and I can see their fingers entwined among the bag handles. When they get to 59th Street, he slips the bag handles into his hand and lifts them from her lap, carrying them before her as they leave the train. Peace babies.

Subway Love #2

The woman who colors my hair told me this story. She's Russian, and her husband is Brazilian, and one day I asked how they met. Five years before, on September 23rd, she was riding the subway from home to work in midtown. She spotted him on the train, exchanging looks as they rode uptown. After a while, she fished a business card out, planning to give it to him as she got off the train. But he got off at her stop, stopped, took her hand and introduced himself. "Have a drink with me" he said. She was working that day. He would wait, he said. And he did. Months later, he wanted to move in together, but she wasn't sure she was ready. They argued, and he left. Days passed and he didn't call, and she resigned herself that it was over. Then, late one night, he called. "Look out your window." She did, and he was there, standing with a single lily in hand. Two years later they were married.

Subway Love #1

A few mornings ago, a Chinese couple rode the 6 train with me. The train emptied at Grand Central, and I noticed them, quiet on the other end of the car. She sat, while he stood in front of her, both staring straight ahead with the morning-commute glaze. As we approached 23rd St., he spoke to her. Her face lifted, and he leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead. For a moment, they seemed caught in their own world. When we arrived at the station, he touched her face for a moment, then was gone.