Tuesday, August 10, 2021 The Guy on the NYC Subway

Back in 2015 I went to New York City with my daughter, two sisters, a brother and a brother-in-law. We’d gone for a Celebration of Life for my aunt who had recently died. One evening found us in Brooklyn for a meal at my uncle’s place and afterward, the six of us went to the subway station to get a subway back to Manhattan where we were staying.

As we waited for the next train back, a couple of men joined us, who looked to be in their early 30’s. One of them spoke loudly and expansively, saying “What’s everybody’s story tonight? Everybody’s got a story, right? Why are we all here in Brooklyn?” Silence from the Minnesota contingent. He looked a little sauced, but harmless. Undaunted, he went on. “Okay, I’ll go first. A buddy of mine just opened a bar so I’ve been there for the last couple of hours. How about you guys? What brought you to Brooklyn? What are you doing here?” He had a very good-natured aspect about him; I suppose you’d call him a friendly drunk.

My brother David finally answered with the word, “Eating,” apparently unwilling to give more information than absolutely necessary. This encouraged the man who warmed to the topic. “Eating! Where did you go? A restaurant? A party?” David offered up that we’d been at a small gathering, but said it with finality, as if to indicate that no more information would be forthcoming.

Silence fell over the group for a few minutes and then the train arrived. My daughter Ruth, my sister Sarah and her husband Mike and I sat on one side, while David and my other sister Charlotte sat across from us, along with the man and his friend. We chatted quietly amongst ourselves and David withdrew a large paper map of Manhattan from his pocket to look it over.

The man (FD – Friendly Drunk) noticed it and exclaimed loudly, “You did NOT just get out a paper map on a subway in New York! Nobody does that! You might as well proclaim to to everyone that you’re a tourist. You can’t just get out a PAPER MAP! Look, there are six of you here – somebody’s got to have a smart phone. C’mon, do NOT get out a PAPER MAP in front of everybody! I don’t have a great phone, but at least I’ve got my Blackberry. I love my little Blackberry. I’d never get out a PAPER MAP. Just put it away – you shouldn’t have gotten it out. Fold it up and put the PAPER MAP back in your pocket. I don’t want to see it – it’s just a bad idea to pull out a PAPER MAP on a subway in New York City…” He went on with this good-natured rant for awhile.

In the meantime, David finally folded up the map and put it in his pocket. From this point on, FD kept up a friendly banter with David and Charlotte, allowing them only occasionally to get a word in edgewise. Charlotte gave as good as she got; David acquitted himself well, too.

FD found out we were all from Minneapolis, and after musing that there wasn’t too much you couldn’t say about Minnesota other than the Mall of America, Charlotte mentioned Prince. FD became quite animated on this topic, commenting on Prince’s popularity with the ladies and expressing a desire to have that same popularity. He then launched into an extended description of how he was going to start a band in honor of Prince and call it “Prints.” He spelled it out for us: P-R-I-N-T-S, which he thought exceedingly clever and made sure we knew just how clever it was. “I’ll even come to Minnesota with my band “Prints” and you guys can support me there.”

This idea kept him busy for awhile, but eventually ran out of steam, so he showed us his t-shirt which said, “Boston SUCKS,” followed by a picture of a rooster (a cock). He explained the graphic to us, adopting a surprising primness by referring to the cock as “c-ock” (sounded like “sea-ock”). The shirt was apparently in reference to Boston sports. Charlotte mentioned that she’d lived in Boston for a time, so he switched his tone and said what a great city it was.

The rest of us watched and listened with great amusement (including FD’s friend), but without any desire to step into the fray, FD being somewhat of a loose cannon. I was pondering to myself what a great experience this was – finally ran into a colorful character on a subway in NYC! As if reading my thoughts, FD launched into a new topic: New Yorkers. He said a lot of New Yorkers were sad and miserable people – he didn’t even live in the city anymore but had moved upstate. “But here you are in New York City and I’m giving you a great story to tell the folks at home – the guy on the subway, the crazy New Yorker! I’m just trying to enhance your visit here and make it better and to show you that some people here are really friendly. You know you’ve got to be happy about running into me here – this will make a great memory for you, won’t it?”

We all smiled non-commitally, but of course he was absolutely right. By this time we had missed our stop, so our two new friends helpfully advised us to get off at the next one and just wait for a train going in the other direction. They gave us a friendly send-off and we all got off and talked with great amusement about the experience. It did indeed, make a great memory.

This has been Tuesday True Stories with Lynniebeemuseoday.

It’s probably just about time to fold up this post and put it back in my pocket.