{"id":1104,"date":"2016-01-28T10:38:09","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T15:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/samuelmuggington.com\/wordpress\/?p=1104"},"modified":"2016-01-29T13:12:09","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T18:12:09","slug":"commuting-the-specialist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/samuelmuggington.com\/wordpress\/?p=1104","title":{"rendered":"Commuting – The Specialist"},"content":{"rendered":"
Click here to go to the beginning of the Commuting series<\/a><\/h6>\n

Across from me a lady stares daggers at me. I look down and continue to read the business section of the paper. I feel her eyes on me and I sneak a peek. She elbows the passenger next to her and whispers in his ear.<\/p>\n

“Excuse me,” the woman said.<\/p>\n

I ignore her and keep reading.<\/p>\n

“I am talking to you,” she said.<\/p>\n

I sigh and look up. I see a gray haired African American lady. She is wearing a black overcoat and holding a sheaf of papers in her hands.<\/p>\n

“Do you have a problem with your hearing young man,” she said.<\/p>\n

Me, a young man? Hah. “No, I am trying to catch up on the news,” I said.<\/p>\n

“The human aorta is a foot long and an inch in diameter,” she said.<\/p>\n

“That’s nice,” I said. I bury my nose in the newspaper. The woman is nuts.<\/p>\n

“Does this train go to Penn Station?” she said.<\/p>\n

I look up. I can’t keep a look of irritation off my face. “Yes,” I said.<\/p>\n

“Thank you,” the woman said as she rustled her papers. “Do you know how many branches the aorta has?”<\/p>\n

I shake my head. I just want to read the\u00a0paper. I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to know anything.<\/p>\n

“There are twenty branches. Well, not really since some are in pairs,” she said.<\/p>\n

I take out my ear phones and plug them into my phone with a savage gesture. I punch my phone with my finger and crank up a loud rock song. There, no way she can penetrate my wall of sound. I go back to the article on the Fed. Goddamn it, raise the interest rates already. I feel a tap on the shoulder. I look up and her face is inches away from mine. Her pupils are gigantic. I pull one of the ear buds out of my right ear.<\/p>\n

“What?” I said.<\/p>\n

“CREAM,” she said.<\/p>\n

“What are you talking about?” I said.<\/p>\n

She points at me and looks me up and down. “CREAM.”<\/p>\n

I put my earbud back in. Stupid idiots on this train. I just want to be left in peace for a few minutes.<\/p>\n

The lady turns to the man next to her. “CREAM, C<\/strong>ongenital R<\/strong>heumatic damage, E<\/strong>ndocarditis, A<\/strong>ortic dissection, M<\/strong>arfan’s,” she said. The man next to her nodded. “I can tell just by looking at him, ” she said.<\/p>\n

I look up and now the woman and the man next to her are both staring at me.\u00a0What? Did I do something wrong? I continue to read and ignore them.<\/p>\n

“I tried,” she said to the man next to her. He nodded. “Too bad, he looks like a nice young man.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click here to go to the beginning of the Commuting series Across from me a lady stares daggers at me. I look down and continue to read the business section of the paper. I feel her eyes on me and I sneak a peek. 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