Just Deserts

To the guy on the train that was harassing people for money... you got what you deserved.

I'm used to people begging and harassing on the subways - it's part of being a New Yorker.  Heck, that guy Patrick on the 1/9 train has been out of work for "the last 2 years" and wearing the same arm cast for about 15 years now.

It's very rare on the NJ Transit trains.  There was a begging man today, though.

This guy was something else.  I could hear him yelling at people from about two cars away.  Anyone who told him "no" or ignored him got a tongue lashing.  Especially the women.

I had such a good day that I tried to take the coward's way out and just closed my eyes.  I didn't want anything to sully the niceness of my day.  The next thing I knew I was being shaken by the begging man.  Shaken.  Not nudged, or poked.  Shaken.

Snapping my eyes open I said "What?"

"I need a dollar!"

"Sorry."

"Gimme a dollar!"

"No!"  I closed my eyes again, hoping that he would just leave.  I know... coward's way out.

Then he shook me again.  He didn't nudge.  He didn't poke.  He shook.  He bit off a bit more than he could chew with that one.

"Motherf%$@*r you'd better back off!  Put your hands on me again and see what happens!"

(I am a redhead, after all).

Then he put his hands on me.  Again.  My arms began to fly, trying to deflect the shaking.

At this, the man sitting across the aisle from me (and consequently behind the begging shaker-man) stood up.  He was huge.  6'5" at least.  Shaker-man didn't see him.  Everybody else did, though.

My hero grabbed the begging shaker-man by the back of his neck, marched him down the aisle and tossed him off the train.  Shaker-man went limp as though my hero had some kind of Vulcan death-grip on the guy, rendering him immobile.  And I mean tossed him off the train - I don't think the shaker-man's feet touched the ground the whole way.  There was a lot of screaming and yelling outside the train car, with lots of colorful phrases that I will store away for future use.  It was amazing.

There was a great tension in the car as my hero returned.  He was a little scary.  And very large.

I said "And stay out!" at which point the tension broke and we all laughed.  People even clapped for my hero.

"Thank you," I said.  "That was incredible of you."

"My pleasure, ma'am."

I was rescued by a stranger on the train!

My good day remained unsullied by the begging shaker-man, thanks to my hero who stepped in and took care of things.  

There are some really nice people on the world and they reach out to each other, and help a stranger, and smile unexpectedly, and clap for heroics, and give up their seats for the elderly or for children, and do what they can to make the day a little better.  They are everywhere.  They are legion.  And they are really nice.

So, to the guy on the train that was harassing people for money... you totally got what you deserved.  But we got to witness a hero in action.  So thank you for that, begging shaker-man.  But you totally got what you deserved.