“Thanks for the advice, officer,” she remarked.

GOLDIE TUSSLED WITH HER LUGGAGE as she walked through the long corridor. People watched her struggle; no one offered to lend a hand. She was already off to a bad start. If this was any indication of her stay in the city, then things were going to be rough.

She followed the directions to a T. Standing on the subway platform, she pressed her back against a steel support beam. She didn’t want to let anyone slip behind her, and push her in front of an oncoming train. She saw the horror stories on the news about things like that happening. She didn’t fear dying; Goldie just didn’t want to die a painful death like that.

New York City’s transit system was one of the biggest in the nation. So the trains came like clockwork to handle the millions of people who commuted to and from work every day. Goldie’s wait was short. She heard and felt the rumbling of the platform. This was her signal that the train was coming. She took a quick glance behind her, making sure the coast was clear, and then she leaned her head and neck close to the edge of the platform, peeking into the pitch black tunnel, trying to spot the train. There it was speeding toward her. The train’s white headlights shone through the blackness. Atop the train, she could see a luminescent circular number 2. “This must be my train,” she told herself. Then she went and collected her belongings.

The train rumbled into the 34th Street station, bringing with it a thunderous, almost ear-piercing noise. Goldie was almost knocked down as mobs of people exited the train in a rush. She managed to fight her way through just to enter. She found an empty seat as soon as she got on. There were plenty of empty seats around her. But for some reason everyone in the car was crowded and bunched up at the other end. As she settled in her seat, it hit her—an odor so strong, it was sickening. She spotted a dirty black homeless man curled up in a seat, fast asleep. His hair was extremely nappy. His face and clothes were so dirty, it looked as if he worked in the shaft of a coal mine. At the very next stop, she got up and moved too. She stood up at the other end for the rest of the ride.