I was pushing through the turnstile this morning when these two men started fighting. They were right in front of me and yelling at each other and I moved quickly to a wall about 10 feet away from them as one shoved, and the other shoved, and then the first guy punched, and so forth. I suppose at a certain point I realized that I could sneak past the fight and the gaping, freaked-out onlookers but it didn’t feel like I could, it felt like the first moment had defined that I was stuck here next to an empty attendant booth as other people shouted down the hallway for someone to call the cops, as an MTA employee waddled – he was portly! – over and sort of waved his arms about fruitlessly trying to get these two dudes to stop fighting.
These two dudes were not the sort of dudes you’d expect to see fighting, either. One was better-dressed, with nice slacks and a white polo and a black jacket, and the other one was a little more working class hero with jeans and a black sweater. I think one of them even had a binder. And they didn’t seem like they knew each other, at all. It seemed all very odd, like someone had spiked both their morning coffees with testosterone, or rabies. They just started fighting and they weren’t very good at it, either, but Polo Shirt ended up with a bloody nose. It all lasted about three minutes, maybe, before a skinny kid (probably 25 or so, really) in a big NFL-branded jacket and square zirconia earrings, you know the look, just stepped through the turnstile and right between them, two arms outstretched and yelling “hey hey, HEY” to these two older, suddenly silly-looking men.
And that was really the oddest thing. All us commuters pressed against walls and yelling at MTA employees who then joined us with only a little more authority, maybe a shout or two, and then here comes this skinny good-looking kid in an oversized jacket and he just goes between them with two outstretched arms and it stopped. Of course they fronted a little, moving forward only to hit the invisible wall defined by Skinny Jacket’s hands, hands angled straight up and fingers splayed like a traffic cop. And then Working Class Hero grabbed his jacket and stalked off and up the stairs, and the MTA employee rushed forward to the now-bloodied Polo Shirt and I decided to get out of there with my heart thudding around like a trapped bird in my ribcage.
I climbed the stairs right in front of Skinny Jacket and he met my eyes and shook his head, and I was amazed that he’d just stopped that and was now lighting a Newport Kool and I wondered if the cigarette was calming him down a little, whether his heart was thudding too, with plenty more reason than mine, since he’d been the only person in that subway entrance who’d actually done anything productive. The rest of us just flapped around like chickens or got stuck to walls. And then I thought, what did I expect myself to do? And I don’t know, except I know I didn’t expect myself to be that spooked and freaked by two idiot commuters in a lame headlock with one good right hook to the nose.
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And I know, don’t remind me, that I haven’t actually blogged in the month of November. I didn’t realize how much my blog’s physical presentation has an effect on my desire to be here, and how the lack of your presence in the comments does too. It’s like I’ve had this closet in my house that’s just a mess so I’ve stopped using it even for the stuff that belongs in there. This blog has become that closet. I mean, MT4 has just totally stumped me – I don’t even know how to change that horrible red banner up there – so I just despair every time I open it up and poke around and realize I don’t even know where the stylesheets have gone. Much less the bigger problem of completely busted comments. It’s like driving a car without knowing how the gearshift works.
Ugh. Anyway, it’s a damn shame and I’m sorry (especially you, Simon, who asked me mournfully when I was going to start blogging again and made me realize that it looks for all intents and purposes like I’ve stopped) but I’m coming back, I promise. I have stories and photos and changes! And I have a gorgeous new banner made especially for me by one of the most talented ladies on the web, which I certainly don’t deserve and hope to do justice with the words underneath. So I hope to fix a lot of it this weekend with some professional help (everyone wave to Adrian), just in time for no one to be reading blogs because it’s Thanksgiving. HA.