I participated in a literary panel at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space on Avenue C. Everyone wanted to do some beers after it was over, but I’d hurt my back, so I really couldn’t hang out. I caught a bus to the Union Square subway station to get a train home. I entered on the south end of the uptown platform, and just missed one. No problem, I thought, and walked the length of the platform to the north end, a place I kind of like in the city, especially in the summer. It’s a small area with a trash can in the center, and positioned over it is an old fan that stays on continuously. I usually lean under it on hot humid days, and it does have a cooling effect. In the course of standing there I hear an announcement: There’s been a police action at Fourth Street in Brooklyn, train service will be delayed. Time goes by, probably about twenty-five minutes, but I have my fan. Ok. I look over to my left and see a woman, maybe late 50’s, kind of thin, toss her bag onto the tracks, and climb down after it. “Hey,” I ask her, “Did you lose something? You shouldn’t go down there.” And then she says the strangest stuff, pretty much that this is how she’s going to get home, she’s tired of everything. Now I raise my voice, trying to guilt her: “You’re being selfish! Think about all the other people you’re going to inconvenience – it will make things worse for everyone if you don’t get back up here!” She edges over towards the third rail, and I unleash my best zinger: “Do you believe in any kind of God? If you do, you gotta know how pissed off he or she’s gonna be if you touch that thing!” Just a reminder; my back is so messed up that I knew I couldn’t get down on the tracks to help her. Also, I was shouting this whole time down the platform to call 911 – my old cel sucks, no reception in the station. A young guy climbs down onto the tracks and picks the lady up and brings her over to the platform where he deposits her. She is then stood up by several folks who wait for the police, who do show up rather quickly. My train finally appears and I go home.
