Politics
‘She Pulled a Packet of Tissues From Her Bag and Tried to Take One Out’
Taming a tantrum on the 4 train, a scoop that got away in Ridgewood and more reader tales of New York City in this week’s Metropolitan Diary.
Helping Hand
Dear Diary:
I was on a downtown 4 train. It was the middle of a hot afternoon, and the car was not too crowded. An older woman was dealing with a young boy who was having a tantrum. She looked like she could be his grandmother.
The boy was screaming and would not keep still. He kept trying to get off the woman’s lap to lie on the floor, and she was struggling to hold onto him while staying in her seat.
His intense crying was making his nose run all over his face. She pulled a packet of tissues from her bag and tried to take one out, but the boy’s flailing would not let her.
Watching this unfold was a construction worker who appeared to be on his way home, a hard hat and backpack by his feet as he stood next to the woman and boy near the train’s door.
He began to gesticulate in her direction. Without getting a response, he took the tissue packet from woman’s hands, pulled out a few tissues, passed them to her and returned the packet to her bag.
The woman wiped the boy’s nose and held him even tighter. The train stopped, the door opened and the construction worker stepped out.
— Daniella Ben-Arie
