About July 2001
New York City
My family and I are sitting on a subway train far from our hometown in Minnesota trying to figure out how to get to another part of the city. This is our first time on a subway and even my dad the map genius is confused about where we are supposed to go. It's very late, close to 11 pm and we need to get back to our hotel because we're getting up to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island early the next morning. My sister's have been excitedly talking about sitting in the Statues crown all day.
In retrospect I don't think it was the best idea to be riding the subway late at night with three little girls under the age of 13 and two people who didn't know where they are going, but we couldn't hail a cab to save our life. We travel for a couple of stops and two rough-looking guys step into our empty train car followed by a lady dressed to the nines in a white pantsuit and gold jewelry who looks as if she's in her early 60s. What an older lady is doing traveling on the subway at 11 o' clock at night, by herself still floors me to this day.
The rough-looking guys sit farther down the train but it looks like something super suspicious was going down with the way they were talking, and whispering, and looking around. This of course makes my mom nervous and she moves closer to my sisters and me in an act of maternal instinct. The lady, sensing my mom's nervousness, sits right down next to us and strikes up a conversation with my dad who's reading the subway map very intensely. She has a very calming aura about her.
"New in town?" She asks.
"Sort of, we're just visiting from Minnesota," says my dad, "I'm trying to figure out this subway map."
"Yes, those can be tricky, especially for people who are new in town" says the lady, "where are you heading off to?"
My dad tells her the hotel we are staying at.
"Oh that's just a few stops from here; I'm getting out around there too. I'll walk you there and make sure you get back safely."
I find this ironic because I think if anyone should be offering to take her to where she needs to go and getting her there safely it should be us. Those thoughts quickly get pushed from my mind though when she starts talking to me about my shoes. They're brand new tennis shoes and of course, like any 12 year old girl who really has no logical thought process I start telling her all about the shopping trip my mom and I went on before we left, and ended up telling her how my travel soccer team had won third place in a tournament before we headed out east.
The announcement telling us that we've reached our destination comes over the train car and I notice that the rough-looking guys had gotten off the train some time ago.
"Well here's our stop," said the lady. So we all stood and the lady grabbed my hand and Rianna's hand while my mom grabbed Mariah's hand, and we made our way toward the exit of the train. My dad kept talking to the lady the whole time we were leaving the subway terminal because she started giving us tips about where to go, what to see, and things to do. She definitely had some good tips; I wish I remembered them all.
We reached the street and the lady pointed us in the direction of our hotel "I'm heading that way to get home," She said as she pointed in the direction of the subway station behind us. "Your hotel is just about two blocks ahead; make sure you hold your parent's hands on the way back girls even though you might think you're too old for that. This is the city that never sleeps."
"Thank you very much," said both of my parents, grateful that we could see the hotel lights, "have a wonderful rest of your night!"
"You're very welcome. Have fun in New York, it's a beautiful City." she said with a smile and headed on her way home.
Shortly after we started heading to our hotel I realized that we hadn't even asked her name, and when I turned around to ask, she had already melted into the crowd.
To this day I wonder what happened to her.
I thought about her when the towers were hit a couple of months later.
I'm still very thankful that she took time out of her life to help out some tourists from Minnesota. That is just, in a word or two, Good People.
--Avery--
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