Subway series: businessman with a sketchpad

My friend Ruben has helpfully given me a name for my periodic blog entries about subway encounters “Subway series.”

I haven’t seen as much in the past couple of weeks, but today’s small event made me think about the people on the subway who surprise you.

A man with short, buzzed silver hair, thin, wire square glasses that are popular these days in a herringbone blaser, white shirt-no tie, jeans, and nice shoes on the 3 train from Brooklyn to Manhattan was moving a pen around on a notebook.  The book was opened in my direction, so I was able to see that he had sketched a woman who must have at one point been sitting across from him in front of a subway map with a “3″ train line sign on her right side.  He was beginning another sketch on the opposite page.

When the train got to Penn Station, he ran to the door, waving a pamphlet at a woman who had gotten off.  The train began to close on his arm, and so he let it go on the ground.  The woman turned gratefully and mouthed a thank you to him as the doors closed.