New York Subway Note

Just in from the New York City Subway: I climbed onto the Southbound Lexington Avenue local at 86th Street yesterday. My feet were hurting and I would have been glad of a seat but no; the train was packed to the rafters and I had to settle for a handhold. Boarding just before me were two junior high schoolers in a puppy flirtation. He was Asian, maybe Chinese, with rimless glasses and a crew cut. She was plain vanilla. He was all giggly with adolescent lust and geeky confusion and she wasn't minding the attention. She got the last seat; in the crowd he had to struggle to stay in flirtation range.

At 59th Street somebody vacated the seat next to her and I made a lunge at it. But no; the swain was quicker (and smaller) and wiggled in first. You could tell he was embarrassed to have done what he just did; he hunched up and looked at his shoes, so as not to risk eye contact. But young romance trumped propriety, and isn't that always the way? Anyway, I think this an entirely appropriate result: there was nothing about my feet so sore as to require the thwarting of a romance. And as I say, at least he was embarrassed.