Friday, September 5, 2008

crowded, but empty

What is weird is how people never make eye contact on the subway. It is sort of an unspoken law that you're not meant to speak to any fellow passengers nor, really, make any acknowledgment of their existences. Even when you are pushed up into them so that you can feel their arm hairs on your cheek and practically taste the sweat forming on their foreheads (YOU LIKE THAT IMAGERY?), they do not exist.

It's as if you are supposed to be pretend that everyone who isn't you on the subway is imaginary. The quiet woman reading The Kite Runner. The little kid sitting on his dad's lap. The crazy dude slurring and foaming as he recites a poem. As far as you're concerned, they're all not real. It's bizarre when you look around and really think about it. Today some guy stepped on my foot (hard) on his way out of the crowded 4 train. When I didn't hear an "Oh, sorry!" or even a "How clumsy of me!," I looked up to give him a dirty look or a questioning eyebrow raise. But, of course, he was already not there.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I always feel like kids are actually the one point of contact with other passengers on the subway. There's an unwritten law that you're allowed to make eye contact under the guise of exclaiming/observing the adorableness of the three year old sitting across from you.