Scoping on the subway - NYC Snapshots °1

After jumping on the subway up at 96th, I slumped into an empty seat and set my iscope to search out easy-listening music by pressing the trigger switch in my pocket. I decided that whatever it picked up first I would listen to, rather than spend the journey downtown switching from passenger to passenger, searching for the perfect music for my mood, frustrated by indecision. Very quickly four short beeps confirmed a lock and then the soft crackling mono sound of Billie Holiday singing 'A Fine Romance' filled my ears. I smiled, rested my head in my hand and looked casually up and down the carriage until I found a red pair of Converse tapping gently in time with the music I was hooked in to. They were directly opposite me. I relaxed, sat back with my left arm snaking along the seat backs beside me, avoiding looking directly at the girl with the tapping Converse. It was important to handle any situation like this with guile. You had to be careful because it was so easy to allow your foot to tap or your head to nod in time with someone else’s music, thus giving yourself away as a scoper and a thief, but, hell, iscopes aren’t illegal as such; they are just a public nuisance. People have strong reasons for choosing the music they listen to when they are alone, on the way home from work or perhaps off for a stomach tightening rendezvous with a potential lover and certainly don’t want someone else in there, stealing into their most private moments.

Uh huh.

Well, the song ended, and another began, and at that point my love of Billie’s voice quickly gave me away. Forgetting myself, I smiled and nodded at the girl, bobbing my head and even snapping my fingers in time with the first swinging bars of The Way You Look Tonight. I felt the air inside the train cool instantly as she suddenly focused her stare on me and then tugged her earphones out. I sat motionless and stared over her shoulder to the reflection in the window behind her, my hands frozen in my lap now. Then she pulled her player from her bag and with her eyes still wide and locked firmly onto me she turned the volume control slowly, increasing the decibels until eventually it became utterly unbearable for me to contain myself any longer. In one movement I slid off the chair and onto my knees, my mouth wide open in a silent scream as I tore my earphones from my ears, breathing rapidly and surely red of face. Everyone stared at me in disapproval as the girl looked above her head and stabbed her finger disgustedly at the red and black NO SCOPING sign. 

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For those of you in the mood to read more today, I am guest posting over at the always excellent, Mr Teacher Man right now ... for sure, a complete change of tone!!!!