grab bag

Three random things.

1) I was riding the metro home the other day and a woman got on with her toddler. It was rush hour, the metro was packed. The woman looked to be in her late forties, the child was about three. At first I thought she was the grandmother, but then she admonished the girl to quit struggling to slide out of the stroller and sit in mommy's lap. I'm all about mom being able to sit on the metro, and (unusually) several people got up to let her sit down, but then she took up all three seats that we proffered, sitting in one and blocking the others with herself and the stroller, which at rush hour seemed clueless at best. The woman sitting next to me, across from the woman and her daughter, was counting through a small rosary. The little girl was staring. She held them up for her to see and the girl was fascinated. "You see the pretty beads?" the mother said as the girl stared at the crucifix swinging back and forth. We pulled into the Pentagon stop and the woman handed the rosary to the little girl, who grabbed it and started waving it. The doors opened and the woman got up to get off. "Oh, your rosary!" the mother said, but the woman smiled at her and said, "Oh, it's okay, I have others," and stepped off, immediately engulfed by the sea of military uniforms.

2) There is a man with a dog. A young dog; a puppy. He comes every day-- at least he has for the last month or so-- and stands under my office window, encouraging his dog to poop in the yard of the building. I don't know where he comes from, or goes to, but the dog is hyperactive (being a puppy) and jumps up and down a lot, periodically chomping on the man's pants and shirt, yanking and pulling, his head going back and forth as he tries to shake the life out of the garments. He yips and yelps and gurgles right under my window. The whole time the man utters a long low grumble of curses and admonishments at the dog. When the dog loses interest he teases him until he grabs on to his shirt tales again.

3) On the corner across from my office are the sad remnants of a yellow scooter. It looks like it was in an accident and got some damage, was then chained to a lamppost (while the driver was taken to the hospital? Which makes me sad) and has since sustained more damage and lost some things (tires, seat, etc.). It is rather sad and dejected looking. This morning as I neared the corner I could see a homeless man pulling a blanket out of the clothing donation box next to the scooter. (Well, hey, it was for him more or less to begin with, right?), which he worked hard to wrap around his head. I reached him just as he finished. He then semi-squatted and stared intensely at the scooter, saying, "MoooooooooooOOOOOOOOOoooohhhhhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh!" He repeated that a couple of times.