“Penn Station”
May 27, 2019Sheila stood in the middle of Penn’s waiting area looking for Todd. Her red hair was as fiery as the heat outside. She was glad to be inside for a few minutes. Her tight jeans stuck to her legs, and she tried to sneak a quick pick, pulling her thong from her buttcrack.
Todd had been in Virginia for the past two weeks, opening the new office for the investment firm he worked for. He hated leaving town and leaving Sheila behind to fend for herself, but his boss loved him and felt he was the best guy for the job. Todd was good like that, always doing his best to take care of everyone around him.
Sheila was getting nervous. She didn’t like being around all these crowds. And no matter where she stood, she attracted weirdos.
“Spare any change?” asked one drifter, who immediately moved on to the next person standing alone before she even had a chance to shake her head no.
It was a busy holiday at the station. Groups of tourists huddled around, lugging large suitcases, filled with enough clothes and knicknacks to last months even though they were just doing a weeklong trip up and down the East Coast; police with dogs, waiting for the right vagrant or shady-looking dark guy to plant drugs on and beat with their batons, while claiming It’s alright, nothing to see here, just protecting and serving, carry on; disgruntled workers, staring at the clock, clock hands not appearing to move, forever wondering why they put up with all these assholes and not just go home at the end of the day and make a nice cocktail of whiskey and Xanax.
Sheila paced back and forth. She started doing laps around the station, wondering if Todd got hungry for a slice and forgot to text her that he was here. It wasn’t like him to not text. And now his train was ten minutes late.
Another seedy-looking guy sidled up next to Sheila. He stood uncomfortably close to her, and she could feel the heat radiate from his pores and smell the stink of the downtown subway stations on him. He decided she was friendly enough and tugged at her sleeve, his dirty hand brushing the pale skin of her arm.
Startled, she jerked away. She was screaming Fuck you! Get the fuck away from me!, but the words never left her mouth. She pushed her way through the crowd, which seemed to have grown exponentially around her as ten trains pulled in all at once, vomiting their contents into the station. Her eyes started watering, and she was cursing Todd in her head. People stopping in front of her to stare into the void—her shoulders smacking people who gave her dirty looks—SMACK! right into a tall man who wrapped his arms around her.