subway kid

today I was on a full subway car, riding downtown from 110st central park north. the 2/3 runs local on weekends right now, so it about doubles the length of the ride. but thats not the point.

I was sitting on the corner chair where there is only two seats, and the girl sitting next to me was reading one of those trashy black romance novels that black women seem to love in nyc. this one was called 'double dose'. I can only imagine what the title was refering to.

at one of the stops, a single asian mother got on the train with her little boy, who looked like he was about 2 years old. just old enough to be able to walk on his own without falling every three seconds.

it just about killed me because the mom and her little guy where standing next to where I was sitting and they both held on to the metal bar coming up from the corner of my seat. the thing that killed me was that the little guy's hand was so small that he could barely get it around the pole.

I have this weird fascination with hands, and little kids hands are the most interesting to me. its seems impossible to me that hands could be so small and still have all of the fingers work and stuff.

so this little kid was standing on his own and holding onto the pole with one hand, and I was right at eye level with him. I got worried that he was going to get knocked down when the train started, because that happens to adults all the time, and their hands can actually fit all around the pole. I got ready to keep him from falling if he lost his balance, and sure enough when the train started, he just about hit the deck--I even reached for him just in case.

he ended up being ok, and I didnt touch him or anything, because he got his balance on his own. his mom seemed pretty cool. then I just sat there looking and me and the little dude had some good eye contact. it was really killing me, you gotta love that stuff.

finally, I realized I should have offered them my seat right away so I go up and let them sit down. the mom tried to get him to say thank you, but that was probably a little advanced for him.

then they read a book about counting pumpkins.