Mon 23 Nov 2009
You Don’t Want to Hear What Happened 30 Seconds Later
Posted by TJ under Metropolitan Diary, Subway, Subway Platforms
This week’s edition of the NY Times’ “Septuagenarians Say the Darndest Things” “New York Owns the Market On Witty Passers-By” “Metropolitan Diary” shows a teeming mob about to trample a not-exactly innocent 2-year-old.
Dear Diary:
There was an unusually long line of rush-hour commuters impatiently waiting to exit the subway stop at Broadway and 79th Street. There was only one exit, since the other was under construction. People started to grumble as the line inched forward.
When the line finally snaked toward the stairs, I could see the reason for the glacial pace. A toddler, clearly new to the negotiation of steps, was gingerly stepping down toward the unhappy crowd, each step an enormous accomplishment, a huge satisfied grin on his face, while his mother — arms filled with groceries — gently guided him from behind.
Never had I seen a child so proud and so wonderfully oblivious to the simmering impatience of the barely contained mob that extended deep into the station.
Spence Halperin
[image: photographersdirect.com]