Scene and heard

Another subway journey to forget, that I won’t….. The R train I caught last night had cars with bench seats. Each bench can supposedly seat 6, but because so many people have such an aversion to being in the general proximity of others – I wonder why they are in New York(!) – the numbers are frequently less. On this occasion, there were 3 women who sell kids things around the city. They had a trolley with a large box on it, in the middle of the gangway. One of them was just a little larger than average in girth, if not height. But comparing her to her friends, she was a mere slip of a thing! The woman sitting next to her was certainly in the top percentile of obesity. Across from them sat a woman who made this woman look quite small. She had a small box to her right, which was the end of the bench. At first, I thought she was doing her impersonation of those guys who pretend that their penises are so large that they can’t get their knees within 2 feet of each other, then I realised that she couldn’t get them any closer if she tried! She had been taking up 3 seats until I asked her, ever so politely, to excuse me as I sat. She squeezed into a mere two seats to accommodate me. It was a little tight! And then the conversations began.

At first, the smaller one was talking across the gangway with another passenger. Then size 6xl joins in. Between her and the passenger were me and the woman to my left. And because mere conversation wouldn’t be quite annoying enough, tiny then started reaching across me and my book with pen, paper and cards that were being passed between them. There are times when I would have said something. But I have learned a valuable lesson in recent years. The ignorant always think everyone else is to blame for everything. So unless you are up for a fight, keep your mouth shut.