It was raining outside. Carefully, I teetered in my black boots with a heel down the long stairs down Van Ness station. People rushed down past me to my right.

I felt like Mr. Glass as I walked down and I wondered what would happen if I did tumble.

In the station, my feet ached from my boots. Unlike my sister, I couldn’t do the heels. I saw a row of four blue seats. Clean. I dusted off the last one and sat down with my black garbage bag.

An Asian man with a fisherman’s hat glanced at me. He was my dad’s age. Probably older. Wrinkled. Slightly tall. He crouched slightly as he stood seven feet from me. As I sat, he glanced at me observed the garbage bag I had dragged and the layers I had put on to save me from the cold rain.

I noticed. In turn, I glanced back studying his old man’s sweater and face. It was uncomfortable, but I looked back…

As an immediate response, he looked away. But I tried not to waver. I nodded in respect. Good day, sir. Isn’t it such a rainy day?

He kept staring at me. I stared back, willing his eyes to look away. When I turned my face to see the incoming train, he immediately turned to stare. I stared back.

When the train finally arrived, I got in the first car deliberately even though it was far from where I sat. There was an overhead announcement—a guy with a Giants jacket had jumped the gates. The train paused while the guy with the Giants jacket sulkily headed back upstairs.