It was Wednesday night and I was returning from the Upper West Side [UWS] to the Village. It had been a clever evening of lovely food and wine. I waited for the subway and when it arrived, got on. It lurched forward immediately and caught me and my balance off guard. I was going to sit down to my right, next to someone already seated, when the unexpected forward motion forced me to grab the upright pole in the middle of the car with my left hand, and while doing so, take a step or two forward away from my seat of choice. While moving forward I also weighed whether to just go ahead in that direction and sit there. After all, I wasn’t buying either seat, just passing through. But no, I decided to go with my original choice and now that I had my sea legs, I swung backwards around the pole and into the seat. The person next to whom I was now seated laughed out loud. Yeah, I said, kinda overshot there, huh. Yeah, he said, and I saw you were debating whether to move ahead or not [what is he, a movie director?] Well, I replied, maybe I shouldn’t have had that last glass, at which point another guy across the car said, Hey, life is too short to be counting. Apparently they thought I was somewhat looped, which I wasn’t. At this point the guy now next me asks me where I am from. Now what kind of question is that, I reply. I’m from New York. No, he says, before that. How much before that, I ask. I don’t know, he says. Well, I say, that’s what I mean, what kind of question is that. Alright, he says, where were you born. Oh, I say, I can answer that. And name the state. The guy across the aisle names the largest city in the state. Yes, I reply and without missing a beat the two of them engage in a discussion about the wonders of the city and state and how great it is to live there. Silently I agreed that there is something special about the place – it’s in it’s own category. My stop comes before they finish extolling the wonders of place. I chuckle to myself how this entire episode had lead two strangers to meet that otherwise would have sat in silence across from each other for the duration of their trip. When I text my hostess about the exchange and comment that the Sunday night crowd on the subway is giving and gentle- she flashed back – Sunday? By Sunday, do you mean Wednesday? Well, as he said, who’s counting?
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So which city is the largest city in the state? 🙂