Small Stone for Friday, Jan. 6, 2012
This young woman on the trolley, she was down from Erie. She said, "You've taught me the city way," after she tried to toast him across the aisle, his brown paper bag, her Thermos that she never revealed the contents of, and he pulled it back at the last second. Her laugh was bright and hyper. "No no no, I'll cheers to you, man, I won't be fooled again, though. You've taught me." She tries too hard to learn things from people, I think. The asshole flat-out told her she couldn't be, when he asked if she was a girl and she said, "I'm what I wanna be." That's where I cut you off, asshole, you're dead to me. But not to her. He tells her she can't be whatever she wants, but I guess because she really can be, she has nothing to lose to him? But she's younger than me, and, what? More something? Less something? Just better? They argue and she tells him he can be what he wants and he tells her she's funny. He wants her to come to 40th and Market later and eat barbecue, he asks where she's partying. "Nowhere, I hit my head last week, I have to take it easy." "Well, don't sleep on it, you'll die!" Her laugh is bright and easy. He seems genuinely affectionate the second time he tells her she's funny. Maybe in the United Nations in her great brain space, they're getting toward resolution. See, I don't think he knows that, though. He's been trying to get a reaction from a woman in a short skirt and purple tights, sitting in front of me. He calls her a "retard" when she gets off the trolley without acknowledging him. Not acknowledging him, to me, seemed impeccably rational on her part, and a valid choice at the very least. My girl doesn't choose to make that point. Does she only learn and never teach? Is she timid? Has she come here to observe? Is she waiting for her moment? Does she not agree?