a Propos

First go read some of this:


Then meet the woman in the white hat:
Between the stops, she wiped her black bag of the last drops of rain, adjusted her white hat and pulled the Daily News onto her lap. She looked only for an instant at the front page before turning to the articles inside, glancing at the headlines, her eyes narrowing slightly before moving onto the next and the next. In three minutes she was six pages deep and still going strong. Black boots, short heels with black pants and a cream colored car-coat that almost matched her hat. Her lips moved into a purse as she saw something on the page. When the conductor's voice burst out of the speaker reminding us for the eleventh billionth time to watch our personal belongings and report any supicious package or bag to an MTA official or police officer, she did not seem to hear. She turned the page, peered, scanned, peered again and then sighed a little.

At 145th she gathered her bag and her paper, stood up as the train slowed, took two steps towards the doorways before, as all New Yorkers do, she made a quick look-back to see if anything had been left.

The two girls who had been out all night entered the car as she left.