It was my first solo subway ride. I was excited to finally be heading to my first day of classes at Circle in the Square. I soaked in all the sights and sounds of a morning in Brooklyn.
As I headed on to the busy platform I selected a spot near what would be the end of the train when it arrived and waited. There was all manner of life in the subway station, men in suits, women carrying portfolios, girls in track suits, but my eyes came to rest upon a group of young boys making a rather suspicious formation in the middle of the platform. My spine straightened. I was more than familiar with these kinds of groups having been taunted and threatened by such gatherings in my youth.
I looked around to see if any other adults were aware of this grouping and no one seemed to pay them any mind. I looked closer, trying to assess the danger. From what I could see there were maybe a total of 4 or 5 boys surrounding another pair of boys. A quick guess told me they were all from the ages of 10 to 12. The two boys in the middle were eyeing one another with menace, one of them being comparatively huge, the other somewhat leaner. I edged myself closer so that I could hear what they were saying.
In Minneapolis I had been known to butt in to playground scuffles. I made it a habit to keep my eyes peeled everytime I passed the school playground near where I worked and, from time to time, my eyes caught activity that the schoolyard monitor had missed. But this was slightly alien to me. These boys weren't on school property. These boys were New York boys.
As much as I felt my school experience had been frought with danger, I couldn't imagine the depravity of inner city students. Did these boys have homemade knives fashioned from Spiderman pencil cases? If I could peek into their bags at that moment would I have found their math books snuggled up with rufies and a pack of smokes? Why was no one paying attention to this flock of boys? Is it because they were afraid to get involved? After all, I had heard great tales of the indifference of New Yorkers. Were those tales true? Could I take on a bunch of boys that were about neck high? I had never felt so alone as I edged through the crowd to meet my most noble doom to protect the small, clearly mouthy, boy on the platform.
It was at about 5 or 6 feet away that I finally found myself privvy to their conversation. While the large boy glowered down on the smaller and the other boys formed an argumentative ring around the two I heard the smaller boy say this:
"What do you MEAN you don't believe in evolution, you big ape!"
The other boys nodded in agreement with the smaller boy mumbling about science and undeniable similarities. The larger stood tall and said something about order in the Universe.
My train came and I left the boys to their debate.
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