Scene and heard

On Father’s Day, I was on the subway going into Midtown Manhattan to meet my son, who was treating me to tickets for The Mets game. It was warm and I was dressed accordingly. Two men were opposite me: one, with a shrill, annoying voice, talked incessantly and the other nodded a lot. When the quiet one got off, his short time companion first tried to start a conversation with the two women along the bench seat from me – they were polite, but went back to talking to each other.

Meanwhile, when a couple of young people seemed to need directions, I offered to help. They were Iranians – he lived here and his sister was visiting. We started talking about football (the kind where people kick a ball). He wanted England to win the World Cup. Mr.Talkative butts in: “I used to wear shorts when I was younger.” Not a lot you can say in response to a killer opening line like that! “Yeah, I played Soccer! I was a goalie. I got good legs.” (Rolling up one of his trouser legs) “See? Pretty funny, huh?” “No!” I tried resuming my conversation with the young man sitting next to me. From across the carriage… again! “England did well the other day…. They won 3 to nothing.” “No they didn’t!” “Yeah, they did! I saw it…. I got lots of medal (sic.).” “I don’t care how many medals you’ve got, England didn’t win 3 to nothing!” I asked him to please find someone else to talk to. Fortunately, it was his stop.