Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Waiting for the A train

This time in NYC, I decided to take the airtrain from JFK to the Howard Beach station and then the A train into the city, saving me a boatload of money. At the Howard Beach station, I sat to wait next to a woman in her fifties, dressed in shiny, tight purple pants, her ratty hair barely contained under a colorful  scarf.  She wore sunglasses in a subway station at six in the morning.  Her hand stretched out in front of her holding a cobalt blue iphone which played rap.

The music had a strong beat and the words kept repeating, and I began singing along softly.

"Is YOU singin?" Alarm in her voice.

"I guess I am," I said.

She elbowed me hard and shrieked.  "You is a crazy woman!"  Hard laughter.  "A crazeee woman!

Guy on the other side of me leaned forward and asked, "Is that Jay-Z?"

"Yeah, I love him," wild woman said.

The A train arrived.  We stood.  "You have yourself a good Sunday, you crazy woman,"  The purple pants lady laughed and walked down to get on a car that was not the same as my car.  Who wants to sit next to a crazy woman?

See, my narrow third eye, which looks down on this scene, sees me as a gray haired, prim looking, old woman, sitting next to what I would consider the truly crazy woman.

This is why I love NYC so much.  You never know who is the crazy woman.  And nobody cares.



8 comments:

  1. I Googled Jay-Z and listened to his music over my morning coffee. Wow! Did you sing all the swear words? Because that might call for a video remake. A multi-talented crazy woman!

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  2. Love this scene. Have you heard of "Humans of New York?" You should search it on Facebook or on google. I love it.

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  3. Maybe a top ten post here. Buy some purple pants.

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  4. What that girl in the tight purple pants didn't know was that despite your gray hair and conservative dress, there is a crazy woman in all the best sense.

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  5. I wish I'd known you were here. I would have driven you anywhere you wanted to go and spared you the disgusting A train. NYC, so problematic but a lot of good people.

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  6. When I go to work, I take the Air Train to the Howard Beach subway station, walk outside and across the street, and that is where my crash pad is (where I stay between trips) - right across from the station. It's pretty convenient (plus there's a great little pizza place, Chinese restaurant, grocery, Laundromat and car service right on that block).

    If I'm going to the city, I take the subway. I've always taken the A Train subway, because of my crash pad being right there...but from what I understand from coworkers, it's faster from JFK to take the Air Train to Jamaica Station and take the E Train to Manhattan. It doesn't go all the way down to the bottom of the island so it cuts off some travel time. Anyway, that's just a tip for next time. ♥

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