The Babes and the Wolf

People Watching

Is it just me or are people just more interesting on the Path train than on the MTA? By that, I don't necessarily mean that the people themselves are inherently more interesting, but that people in general tend to be less interesting while they are on the MTA. People on the MTA always seem so absorbed: absorbed in themselves; absorbed in doing nothing; absorbed in ignoring; absorbed in waiting. Like waxen figures glued into place - they are subsumed and disconnected. They are muted. They stare dully ahead of them, eyes locked onto the periphery, perpetually missing one another. On the Path, on the other hand, people always seem to be engaged in something, be it talking in a group; being a drunken asshole; trying to figure out where the hell they are; staring at one another. Its the kids on the MTA who are the most interesting. They throw tantrums and spiral out of control. They are alert, curious, alive - or dull. But their every move or pose is a tableau oozing hints of their daily lives, their personalities, their "selves" - even as they doze across their parent's lap.

Right now, I'm watching a little girl of maybe 7 watching someone else at the end of the train. One moment she is scanning the ads overhead. Then she is stretching her neck to look out of the window. Now she stares at me, as I peek briefly from under my hair and return to my writing. She screws up her face, underscored by a half-mouthed smirk of curious bemusement and I make no pretense at the fact that I'm writing something that may or may not pertain to her. She returns to her visual wandering, every now and again fearlessly glancing back to see what I'm doing. Her identically dressed sister is sprawled out fast asleep on (I'm assuming) their father's lap as he stared blankly ahead of him. Her inquisitive eyes follow me to the door, lock on through the window as the train pulls away.