Saturday, March 10, 2012

On the Night Train


When I got home, E called to finalize our reunion plans for the evening.  C and I met up at Grand Central and went up to White Plains to meet E's kids (who are absolutely adorable - age range is 9 months through 9 years).  We left E's husband with babysitting duty while we enjoyed a nice meal with live musical accompaniment at Cafe Mozart in Mamaroneck.   

Back in the NYC subway after midnight, I witnessed a small piece of drama unfolding as a guy on the platform asked two girls for directions.  They were all in their 20's, and the guy was wearing a backpacker-type backpack.  He said he'd just arrived from Kansas three days ago and was "looking for adventure."  The girls tried to be helpful, but they really didn't have a clue about how he could get to 12th Avenue and 43rd Street from Grand Central.  (Hint: Go west, young man, go west.)  The guy went and asked someone else for more information, then came back and said he'd figured it all out: he needed to get from Grand Central to Times Square, and then he could walk the rest of the way to 12th Avenue.  Then the train came and he got on board with them.  Unfortunately, the train was on a north-south line; he would never, ever, get to Times Square or points further west on that train.  

So I was tempted to speak up, and I felt a little bad for remaining silent ... but it seemed to me that he was looking (as he said) for adventure and also (as he did not say) for cute new friends, rather than accurate transit information.

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