The other night, I was coming home on the subway train, and there was an altercation a few seats over from me. There was a row of three people, and on one end was a homeless man (I’m assuming. He had a bike and a cart and a ton of bags and a crazy hat), and in the middle was a normal enough man. I did not see who was on the other end, but the homeless man and the seemingly normal man were having words. The homeless guy sounded drunk. At one point he shouted something like “say it again and I’ll rip your fucking head off.” Apparently the words became too much for the “normal” man because a minute or so later he had jumped out of his seat and proceeded to punch and knee the homeless man in the face. A couple guys immediately grabbed him and restrained him and were like what the fuck are you doing? Just move to another seat you monster. He made some explanation, as if there is an explanation for why you just proceeded to knee a drunk homeless man in the face while he was sitting down. The normal (not actually normal, it turns out) man left the train, and for the rest of my commute, people cut the homeless man a wide, sad berth. He sat with his hat knocked off into his lap, staring at the floor, breathing heavily and trying not to cry. Everyone in the car kept looking over to make sure he was OK, but also not really wanting to make eye contact or knowing what to do. I doubt the guy had anywhere to go, really, or anyone to help him. He was so sad, and probably in a little pain but mostly just ashamed. It was one of the most upsetting things I’ve seen in awhile.

This is just one of those stories, you know? ONLY IN NEW YORK!