Filthy Summer People

The title only winks at my bond with the American people, let alone New Yorkers. In a nutshell, Satan came to Earth and hates to catch a chill. My routine now includes three showers a day. Personally, I don't normally feel I must be so thoroughly rid of bacteria and filth. However, even with the passing of a summer heatwave the itch, grit and stickiness cooled sweat leaves the skin after a thirty minute wait on a subway platform merits a scrub.

Last Monday or Tuesday night I lilted home after midnight astonished at the temperatures still above 90 degrees Farenheit. A week later and with temps in the 70s above ground, the subway platforms remain ovens. Perspiration finds its way onto exposed flesh. Damp marks permeate clothing and define spaces both obvious and quite modest. Wiping a trickle only elicits a stream.

While feeling the "goo" and desiring to scrub is uncomfortable, far worse is having a whiff of a neighbor or fellow traveler. To no fault of their own except being human and having a propensity for B.O., the heat has placed them in such a damaging predicament -- public scorn and redicule; a point of derision; the smelly kid (adult, if it were). As unpleasant as travel with this passenger is, even more devestating is his/her perspective -- knowledgable of their own funk and trapped in a public space unable to tidy; unable to make eye contact with hateful expressions assaulted by a toxic odor; gassed by fumes of their own making.

Enjoy it while it lasts!