Sometimes, what you plan to write and what comes out that day don't match...
BROOKLYN
I’m stuck on a New York train with an old homeless man who just peed in the corner. I’m not alone. The rest of the riders have all moved to the left side of the car.
I’m on my way home from work in Herald Square and I was so engrossed in the book I was reading that I didn’t notice what was happening. In fact, the only thing that made me look up was a feeling of collective movement. That, and the smell.
I looked up and to left and briefly wondered why the left half was suddenly so full. We hadn’t stopped at a new station yet to let in the possible new mass of commuters. Then I looked in front of me to see a tall, skinny, very dark man zip up and sit down across from me. He looked at me. We made eye contact, his whitening hair in sharp contrast with his deep brown eyes. Nearly black. He smiled wide. He knew exactly what he was doing, disgusting everyone and making them uncomfortable. But he was comfortable no he’d relieved himself.
I decided I was going to stay put. I lowered my gaze back to my book. I could run away at the next stop, pretending it was just my turn to exit, the end of my commute. I would just wait for the next train and hope it was free of this kind of special NY spectacle. I refused to run to the other side with the masses now that I’d made eye contact. That seemed like a cop-out. I’d already missed the safety-in-numbers move that would have provided invisible cover for my judgment.
A few people taking refuge looked at me with pity, probably confused at my choice. Perhaps they thought I was crazy enough to truly not be bothered. I was simply trying not to make this glassy-eyed man feel as crazy as the rest of them were doing. Or give him the satisfaction of affecting change in my world.
He was not sheepish about what he’d done. He had no remorse. Then again, if I had no home and desperately needed to go, who knows what I’d do.
The doors of the train opened on West 4th/Washington Square. I got up and out. Standing on the platform, holding my book open, I realized maybe he wasn’t necessarily desperate. Whether it was an emergency or not probably didn’t matter as much for him as it would for me. I tried to tell myself that I left because of the smell, that my discomfort was simply a physical one and not psychological. I tried to ignore the fact that he had affected my world. I’d left to avoid the judgement of the left side of the car.
I put my head down and go back to reading.
The Dead End One Way
Chapter 1
Ulysses had walked past this road hundreds of times. It was right on the way to the train station he took to school. Today, he was no more than two steps past it when he noticed something strange: It was One Way. This was only a problem because it was also a Dead End. He’d always known it was a dead end street, but never realized it was also one way. It was such a short street too—no turns, no cul-de-sac—just a row of four, two-family homes on each side, parked cars, and a brick wall at the end. The last building on the right was a coffee shop that faced the opposite street; their dumpster was next to the brick wall.
He’d always walked past without much consideration, probably because he’d always thought it was a sad and rather gross little road. The people living right there must hate the smell of that dumpster. He envisioned rats at night sneaking in and out and hiding under cars, possibly getting into basements. He didn’t like rats. He wondered if that’s why he’d never noticed the One Way sign. He’d always moved rather quickly toward the station.
But today, he took the two steps backward to take a closer look and consider. He checked his watch. Plenty of time today. A minute or two standing, staring at the sign, the street, the wall, and something else caught his attention: an almost translucent cloud or bubble on the right side just below the Dead End sign.
Ulysses had been looking a little to the left at the time. He jerked his head to the right and it was gone; just wisps of white without shape instead.
“Finally got curious did you?” Ulysses jumped back a full foot in shock nearly stumbling off the curb.
