She ate sliced ham out of a zip-lock bag, standing beside me on the subway platform with her side-tilted hat showing she was all spunk and all seriousness, making me feel absurd to be holding these gladiolus and heading to the far west side of the city where my sweet friends with an Irish accent had just had a baby removed.
This girl with her hat and her ham and I watched each other as the subway lights came crashing through the tunnel as though light could make a sound, and when the doors opened, the girl sat directly across from me. Me on my way to see my friend without the baby and my hands felt so empty and so wrong to be holding those enormous gladiolus, half-a-dozen fabulous gladiolus that I almost gave to the girl with the hat because gladiolus, what a ridiculous thing to buy.
Jane Ozkowski 