I've seen some
real doozies while riding the subway. Yesterday, I got another one to add to the list.
I got on the F train at 42nd St and headed to Brooklyn around 3pm. There were four boys that looked around ten or twelve years old riding seemingly solo. They seemed sweet*, passing a portable video game back and forth. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Enter: homeless man in winter coat, asking for change. Nothing out of the ordinary.
He made one pass up and back down the subway car. Nothing. But nothing out of the ordinary.
He decided to take a second pass, this time goading us, the tight-fisted strangers who did not seem to be interested in donating to his cause:
Sh-eeeeeeet, if I was y'all, I'd have my hands in my pockets already. What is wrong with y'all?
This was a little out of the ordinary. Usually panhandlers plead their case in one pass, get what they can and head to the next car. This guy was hell bent on not leaving our car until someone forked over some loot.
On his next pass back down the car, he passed the young boys and as he reached a young man who was sitting near the door, he screamed:
DON'T YOU MOTHERF$@*ING TOUCH ME AGAIN! I HAVE TOLD YOU: I AM NOT GAY! F&@* $##*@! #&%@@*! ***##&@%@
This was bizarre, and everyone was staring, even though we all tried to do it subtly. The guy on the receiving end of this rage seemed entirely nonplussed, considering that attack just spat upon him.
And the young boys... well, let's just say that I have never seen four sets of eyes bulge that far out of such small faces before. They sat frozen for a moment, dumbfounded. One kid played the lookout and when the coast was clear, they all began re-enacting what had just gone down. They nailed it and were probably more interesting than the crazy guy himself!
*I say "sweet" because they were relatively quiet-- I always expect kids that age to be total loud screaming brats.
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