I Miss Babysitting

I got on the subway in a hurry because I took too long picking which shoes to wear. I sat down in the middle car, frazzled and kind of angry because I made a rash decision to not go for a run that morning, whatever I'll run later. When we got to Astor Place, a boy, no older than seventh grade sat down across from me, backpack in tow with kind of nerdy glasses on his face. "Awh, I wonder how long he's been allowed to take the subway by himself" I thought to myself. His brand new snow boots were untied and the laces were dragging, he was slouched on the subway seat, head leaning back against the window. His hands stayed in his pockets and his backpack was still on his back, just, leaning all the way to the right side. He stared at the blonde boy who just got on the train and sat beside him. This boy was cuter, same age, with that wing-y wavy hair look, skinny pants and proper sneakers that matched his backpack. Boy2 took out what looked like a sheet of math homework and began to do last nights assignment. Boy1, with his hands still in his pockets and his legs sprawled out in front of him, unwilling to pull them in for anyone who passed him, looked down at the boys homework, and I could tell he was doing the problems in his head. He would look at the math problem and then shoot a look at Boy2s face, look back at the problem, and look back at the boys face as if to say "helloooo the answer is 4 why can't you get it." He threw his head back in a disgusted, bored, completely bratty type of way and continued to keep his legs out. All I kept thinking about was how much of a little shit this kid probably was, how he probably whined every time he didn't get his way, how he probably hated everything his mom (or nanny) made for dinner every night, how all he wanted to do was be alone in his room, oblivious to how much his mom (or nanny) wanted to spend time with him. He probably made comments like "I hate that, it's so stupid" when referring to mashed potatoes, "I don't care" when he would get in trouble and his Play Station got taken away, and "ok.." when reprimanded about his behavior and asked if he understood why what he did was wrong. He was probably unaware how nice it was he didn't have to pay for a metro pass, or what the value of a dollar was. He doesn't know what a pain in the ass paying rent was, or trying to figure out whether or not you could be less frugal that morning and splurge on a coffee and croissant for breakfast. I hope his nanny slaps his head when he acts up, and his parents aren't too hard on the teachers when the teachers call to tell them their son got caught helping another boy cheat.

We both got off at 23rd street and it took almost everything in me not to trip him just so I could hear the child whine "Owww!"