As I left my apartment this morning in my typical rush, I opened the door into the hallway and noticed something flying. As it landed in front of me my first thought was, “Butterfly?” No, its crunchy outer shell indicated it was definitely not a butterfly. Or anything else non-creepy. As I slammed my door more forcefully than ever before (I usually attempt to be at least somewhat considerate of my neighbors) I realized I’d just had my first indoor roach sighting. I’ve seen them on sidewalks but never on carpet. Not how I wanted to start my day.
And then I continued rushing for the subway. I was almost there when I felt my bag being tugged off my shoulder. Not slipping, but being pulled. Forcefully. A man walking in the opposite direction was attempting to rip my bag off my arm. At the same time I was thinking, “Well, I’ve lived here for more than a year, it had to happen sometime,” I turned in the direction he was pulling my bag and yelled “Hey . . . .” And then I saw that he was laughing. And that it was someone that I knew. This near-mugging was spookily similar to the only time I picked up a hitchhiker and he turned out to be a guy I went to high school with.
I left for work early enough that the subway was extra crowded. And slow. After we’d been moving for a few minutes, the lights went out. I suppose I knew on some level that subway tunnels were dark, but I hadn’t internalized it until this morning. Thankfully there was a man working on his laptop near me. The screen provided the only light. And, after a few seconds, the lights came back on. But the prospect of being stuck in a crowded subway car in the dark does make you think.
This evening I’ll have a New York experience of a different kind: I’m going to the 9/11 Memorial. I’ve been watching the progress on the site for the last year. I remember when the trees came in and the first day the waterfalls were tested. I’m fascinated by the construction workers I see every day. But something tells me it will be different to be inside.
