Scene and heard

This is an old memory, dating to 1988. I was on a subway platform in Brooklyn, waiting for a 4 train to take me to Bowling Green, where I was going to see a Head-hunter. I blew my nose, apparently somewhat too hard and it bled and wouldn’t stop. On the train, a young man who looked like a Medical Student, motioned for me to tilt my head backwards and pinch the bridge of my nose. A short while later, a middle aged Hispanic man rushed over to me, handed me a penny, and motioned that I should put it in the centre of my forehead. In a split second I just thought ‘what the hell! It might look stupid, but nothing else has worked.’ So I did as he suggested. A very short while later, the bleeding stopped. Please, dear reader, don’t think I am proposing a penny in the centre of one’s forehead as the ultimate cure for nosebleeds.

Anyway! I got to Bowling Green and asked the Token Booth attendant directions to the address I needed to get to. He gave a look – well, this is New York and you take a certain amount of attitude in your stride – and the requested directions. When I got to the office, I asked the receptionist where the Men’s Room was. She quizzically responded. I stepped into the room, looked in the mirror, and you guessed it, there was the penny still firmly in place! When I returned, I said to the receptionist: “I bet you were wondering why there was a penny in the middle of my forehead!”