Good Times on the Train

Last night, as I was sitting on the subway on my way home, once again I was entertained by a New York moment.

Here's the scene: I was sitting on the right side, in the first of the set of 3 seats. The two seats facing backwards we occupied by a man and a boy about 10 years old, holding a giant stuffed banana doll. (I kid you not. It was great.) Accross the way, in in other set of two seats was a woman who was sleeping, and a boy about 11 (Boy #1). His friend was sitting in the 3 seat set across the way. (boy #2)

Boy #1 seems a little bored and starts whispering "banana!" at the boy accross the way. "Banana! Banana!" His friend cracks up. Banana boy sets a firm look of determination, and turns to stare fiercely out the window (which on the subway I was on, will give you a nice view of blackness in the tunnel).

The train stops and a man gets on and sits down 2 seats away from me in my set of three seats. (You can figure out where that is yourself). He pulls out a street map of Manhattan. As the train leaves the station, he asks the Man next to him if the next stop is 42nd St. Alas, that would have been the downtown train. Unluckily for him, this train was expressing to 125th St. New Man shrugs his shoulders and settles in for the trip.

By this time, the Boys have lost intrest in Banana boy. Boy #1 decides that New Man is his new prey. He starts a game of "shadow" - New Man crosses his legs, Boy #1 crosses his legs, etc. New Man catches on to the game and after moving his hands several times, does the unexpected - he slides over the to seat directly next to me. Boy #1 however, has no where to go! He tries sort of sliding around in his own seat but realizes that won't really cut it. So in a clever twist, he and Boy #2 switch seats, allowing Boy #1 to then slide over one seat, now facing New Man with a triumphant look on his face.

New Man grins, and flashes Boy #1 the Vulcan/Birkat Kohanim sign.

Boy #1 is confounded. He tries and tries but fails to replicate this gesture. Boy #2 is laughing, as he shows Boy #1 that he can do it quite easily. By this time, even Banana boy has turned to watch the show and is grining. Finally, he pries his finger apart with a big smile.

New Man isn't done. He then does the sign with BOTH hands! Boy #1 has to struggle quite a bit but finally gets his fingers in place. New Man responds by wiggling his ears. This time, Boy #1 just can't do it. He tries wiggling them manually but realizes that New Man has won.

We pull into the station, where New Man gets off to catch the train back downtown. "Good night," he says, as he flashes us all a big smile.