i have friends and colleagues who often scoff at my "over-use" of the new york city subway system any time i visit the big apple

my friends and colleagues have often scoffed at my willingness to ride the subway at the drop of a hat whenever i visit new york city. i, for one, have no problem with the transit system or the kind of people that one might encounter. i love it. others, don't always agree. they say:

"you're crazy to ride it in the middle of the night."

"that's when all the weirdos ride the subway."

admittedly, i have seen my share of craziness in the bowels of the greatest city in the world. but, nothing...and i mean NOTHING, not even my recent encounter with "the crazy-pantless-rat-guy" could compare to what i witnessed last night.

i was in new york attending the u.s. open tennis tournament, something i have wanted to do for a long time. the open takes place in flushing, queens. i was staying with friends in brooklyn. though these burroughs are adjacent to each other, the MTA likes to make a point of making even the simplest distance between two points (outside of manhattan, which of course is laid out brilliantly) as complicated as possible. long set-up short, it took me roughly a little more than an hour to get home each night.

well, last night i, along with dozens of fellow spectators, sat quietly on the 7 train for a good half hour while it made it's way back to midtown manhattan. at 12:05am, i changed trains in midtown so that i could go the second half hour into brooklyn. the second train was not as uneventful.

i'll start with what greeted me. not one, but two men sleeping at opposite ends of the car. not an uncommon occurrance. no big deal. a little bigger of a deal, was the two children (literally not older than 12) who were sitting next to me, making out. unsettling? yes. dangerous? no. but this is not a picture of danger. rather, one of intrigue. intrigue of the "what the heck was that?" variety.

it was the first stop on that second train when things started taking shape. the doors opened and two young kids (a boy and a girl, brother and sister roughly in the 12 - 14 year-old range) helped a lady who appeared to be homeless drag her suitcase into the car. the kids were well dressed. casual. clean. each carrying their own small cases. the woman, was less clean. in fact, she had more desheveled hair than i have ever seen on one human being. she was dirty and stumbling. the suitcase she was hauling was a newer roller bag. pretty standard in every way except that all of the zippers were opened. as she passed me, i noticed a few unopened coke cans in the main compartment of bag. along with the cans was an office-style phone circa 1987. i did not get much of a look at what else inhabited the bag, but i did notice one other thing. protruding from the front pocket was a plant. a live plant. nothing about this struck me as odd. as i said, i assumed she was homeless, and i have seen far more colorful examples of homelessness.

so, as the train moved on, my attention turned back to the two kids. the boy, at this point, had opened his small case, which resembled a briefcase sized vintage suitcase. he placed a gameboy advance into the case which, i could now see, already contained several water bottles, coke cans, and packs of cigarettes. it was at this point that i was caught staring by the sister. she looked at me and laughed. the brother followed suit and suddenly, i was the entertainment. i averted my gaze and hoped that they would continue. and continue they did. the boy pulled out one of the coke cans and opened it. after it sprayed everywhere, he took a giant chug. i looked at my watch. it was 12:15am. i thought "where are their parents?" how quickly my thought was answered.

the train had emptied a little. and after the next stop i heard a voice from the other end of the car.

"tracy. what are you doing?"* an up-to-this-moment-unnoticed man shouted. and the homeless woman looked up and responded, "get over here."

so this man who had just appeared, wheeled over his antique-looking two-wheeled dolly. strapped to the dolly, were a couple of beat up duffle bags with various bamboo trinkets sticking out in all directions. this man was dirty. like "last bathed in the reagan era" dirty. he had maybe 5 teeth. in his right hand was a cd player and 3 cds. no cases. in his left, a 40 ounce can of something wrapped in a paper bag. he was grinning a toothless smile as he walked toward the woman and the two kids. the boy said "dad, what are you listening to?"

there was another guy sitting across from me. we looked at each other as if to ask "is this really a FAMILY?" we both just looked back at the happy family unit that was enjoying the time they were spending together. conversations about money were thrown around. the mother, who was now playing the gameboy, never said anything else that wasn't incoherent. the father and the kids laughed and laughed and the daughter pulled a roll of cash out of her back pocket and handed it to dad.

"alright" said the dad from under his 20 year-old yankees cap with a gravelled approval. he took a swig of his bag and they laughed some more.

it went on like this for a few more stops. the whole time, the guy across from me and i tried to comprehend just what exactly we had in front of us. to no avail. and the sleeping men continued sleeping.

i got off of at my stop, half wanting to just ride it out to get some answers, but the surreal moment had come to an end for me. my buddy across from me got off as well. we walked out of the station and after exchanging theories, parted just as confused as we were on that train.

whatever it was, i'm just glad that they were so happy.