just an event that I feel like sharing

I don't know what's been causing this, but over the last few days, I've been getting the eye from every chick whose age I can't decipher. I already mentioned that I was bad at determining the ages of women, but let me be more specific... the last two chicks that I had a firm guess on, then later was able to find out their actual ages were 24 (I guessed 16) and 42 (I guessed 31). Nothing there sounds too bad, but I'm just worried about the day that I'll be chatting it up with a thirty-year-old who turns out to be eleven.

This current wave of signals first came to my attention on Wednesday morning, and it's still going strong. I'm sure that I'm fueling it unintentionally though: some twelve to fifty-year-old looks at me longingly... I think, "Jesus... another one?.. what's going on here?" and I probably look at her too long while I'm thinking this, then she takes my curiosity as interest. They've all actually been very cute, but I never know which ones are going to land me in jail.

This chick on Wednesday morning was the most interesting though. This isn't a wildly imaginative or funny story... it's just something that happened that I found to be interesting. There was a certain underlying poetry to the experience.

I was in the subway tunnel, waiting for my morning train. I had just missed the prior train, and found a place to stand where I wasn't too close to anyone... normal shit.. everyone fills in spatial gaps. I noticed a really cute girl of indiscriminate age to my right... I knew she was at least eighteen... I never see kids in midtown, but she couldn't have been much older... then again, she was probably forty, knowing my record with guessing ages. She had dark skin... she was either latin or middle eastern (yeah, I'm oblivious on multiple levels), and had exotic jet black hair that reached down to her waist. She was actually shorter than me too... she looked good all around, except for the possible jailbait thing.

It's normal to look forward, avoiding eye contact, staring at the empty space that the subway you're waiting for will eventually fill. I did that and everyone else was doing that, but this chick positioned herself so that she was facing straight toward me; according to the standard, she was 90 degrees off with her aim. I noticed, but didn't pay too much noticeable attention... if she turned out to be ten, I'd end up being labeled a molester.

Okay... nothing too interesting so far. I should also mention that she was playing up the cute girl thing in the way she presented herself. She had black nylons on and a short skirt... I can't remember anything else she was wearing... I never notice anything else when those things are worn. She didn't look like a slut... she looked innocent, but it seemed a little intentional and overdone... she was probably in her mid-twenties, but knew that she looked young, so decided to play it up.

Then it happened.... she pulled out a book to read. No big deal right?.... the book was called 'Lolita'. She was facing straight at me, and pulled this book out, which had a plain white cover with the word 'Lolita' in large red text. She positioned the book so that she could read it, but it was just under her face so that it wouldn't obstruct my view... she was wearing this book as a large sign. If she would have had something strapped to her ankles that said 'you must be 18 to enter', she'd have completed the picture, but we all know that somebody in the subway, who's not as internet-savvy as the rest of us, would probably take that the wrong way... "I'm at least 18.. let me in!" I couldn't fucking believe what I was seeing... no exposed skin, but this was just too much.

I wasn't sure if she was doing this intentionally, but if not... it was too interesting to ignore... like I said, I found the experience to be somewhat poetic. I casually reached for my phone (which has a built in camera that provides all of these crappy pictures you've been seeing), and glanced over to make sure that she wasn't looking, so that I could take a picture all sneaky-like. She was looking. She was staring at me, wide-eyed, with a total puppy-dog look on her face.... still holding that book just below her chin. It's like she was saying, "Please click here, I'm only eighteen, my parents are out for the night, and I want to try being naughty for once." This had to be staged. I left my camera in my pocket... creative advertising isn't poetic... only coincidences that have deep connotative meanings are worth taking pictures of... besides, if I did take her picture while she was staring at me like that, she'd definitely end up with a mouthful, and I'd possibly end up with a mouthful from my future cellmate.

The subway came right then, and everyone climbed on board. I could see her from where I was standing, and she buried her face in that book until she finally got to her stop. It's possible that she was pretending to read it for my benefit, but it's more likely that she was just reading that book, just like anyone else reading a normal book, completely unaware of what she was doing when she held that thing in front of her in the subway. I should have taken the picture.