So I step down to the Metro North
platform as the 7:23 AM express to Grand Central pulls in, and I
decide to get into the last car instead of running for the cars in
the front of the train. I'm thinking this is a smart thing to do to
get a seat, maybe it will not be so crowded... you know. Well the
last car is packed tight with seats few and far between, but I do
find one by the window and ask a commuter if he would be so kind as
to move his briefcase from the seat next to him so that I could sit
down. He seems perturbed, looks around first, and then grudgingly
surrenders the seat. It crosses my mind to ask him if maybe he had
purchased a ticket for his briefcase, but... I am practicing being
less confrontational with strangers, so instead I smile a closed-lip
smile and sit down.
Train pulls into GC, and every single
person in the last car starts walking in the opposite direction from
the terminal. Good follower that I am, I try to blend in so I do
exactly the same. I see a tunnel up ahead and stairs going down
(which seems wrong somehow ) but I continue, knowing that these daily
commuters know more than me, a casual traveler.
We emerge in an office building on
Madison and 48th Street! Moving along like sheep on a
giant conveyor belt, I follow along and grab the door someone is
holding open for me, then do the same for the person behind me. It
is sleeting outside but I must keep walking or be trampled. Of
course I need to head downtown, not up, and west, not east, but I
have just managed to empty out into the farthest northeast exit of
Grand Central. I am truly truly an amateur, and a poser.
Rather than admit defeat, I walk to the
corner and stop into a deli to a) get out of the sleet and b) buy a
bottle of water. The guy at the counter says “$1.24”, so I give
him a five and a quarter and say, “you can keep the penny”. He
hands me back four dollars and says with a smirk, “thank you, I'll
make sure I give the penny to my boss.” Once again, I practice my
square breathing and do not respond because I am trying really really
hard to be less confrontational with strangers.
Outside of the deli LO and BEHOLD,
someone is getting out of a cab. I grab the door and jump in and
tell the driver my destination, feeling so relieved that I am out of
the cold rain. As I settle back into the seat and search for the
seat belt, he opens the sliding window between the front and back
seats of the cab, and starts a long, rambling monologue. I won't say
it is a conversation, because he really does not want me to talk,
just listen. OMG here we go. For the endless stop-and-go drive
downtown he tells me his life's story. Didn't stop for a breath, I
swear.... But when he said he hated Mayor Bloomberg, I tried hard to
just tune him out. All I can remember is him telling me the stunning fact that he spends
six to eight weeks each summer in Dubai, because driving a cab in New
York is so stressful, and that I should definitely go to Dubai for my
next vacation. I ask him what he does in Dubai, and he says “Oh,
EVERYTHING!” and gives me a knowing smile in the rear view mirror,
which totally creeps me out. I smile and nod, thinking this guy must
be loaded to spend eight weeks in Dubai every summer, but I do not
speak because… well, you know.
Thankfully, just as I start to break
out in an anxious sweat, we pull up to my destination. I hand him a
$20 for the $17.50 trip and say “keep the change” – and hey, I
get a smile instead of a scowl. In the elevator up to my grandson's
apartment, I think, hmmm, maybe I should look for an apartment in
Manhattan... I could just walk everywhere! HA!
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"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
-- Abraham Lincoln
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