my friendly riding companion

So guess what I was doing today... you guessed it- riding on the el!

And at this one stop about twenty people were getting on so I put my bag on the floor and moved over to make some room.

A respectable looking middle aged black man came and sat next to me.

He thanked me for moving over and I smiled and said "no problem."

Mistake number one and two.

Never smile. Head nods are okay, actual words are not. They encourage people.

I can ignore jerks, but I find it really hard to ignore nice people when they are sitting two inches away from me and are trying to talk to me.

Dude: I like your hat.

Me: Thanks. (stare out the window)

(a couple of minutes later)

Dude: Do you ski?

(which I thought was really random since I was carrying a tennis bag)

Me: No.

(stare out the window)

(blah, blah, blah, talk about tennis, talk about me not being in school anymore, he thought I was 17 or 18 and I told him I was 30)

Dude: Do you have kids?

Me: No.

Dude: Oh, you don't want kids.

Me: Someday.

Dude: Someday? Girl, you better start soon. Your clock is tickin'. You don't got much longer."

(uh, suppressed sob)

Dude: I guess you could always adopt.

A lovely way to start the week.