September 25, 2006

Lady in the hat

You know those Mead Composition books? There is a fragile almost birdlike lady who scribbles in them, literally scribbles round and round, with worn colored pencils on page after page. Over the last 15 or so years I've seen her a couple of times. Once in Room 117 at the New York Public Library. Once on the L train and once sitting at the bar at the Viand on 61st & Madison. I've always wanted to take a closer look at the notebooks, but when she catches me peeking she always closes them a bit and brings them tight to her chest. She wears dark catlike sunglasses so you never see her eyes and bright red lipstick. I passed her on the street today near Church and Leonard, two composition books under her right arm, pencils in hand, walking like she had somewhere important to go.

posted at 03:32 AM by raul

Filed under: east coast

Comments:

09/25/06 10:32 AM

When I first moved to nyc in 1984, I rode the F train into Manhattan with a friend every morning. And one day she pointed down the car toward somebody and whispered to me, "Look. There's the terror. I see him all the time."

And there sat a man completely absorbed in the task of tearing sheets of notebook paper into tiny strips and stuffing them into his pockets. Not the terror, the "tearer." That was the only time I saw him. I'll have to remind myself to ask my friend if she ever saw him again...or still sees him.

09/25/06 06:14 PM

This lady also sits in the Dean and Deluca coffee shop on University Place south of Union Square. I think she knows she is curiosity, because I tried to surreptitiously photograph her and she skeedaddled.

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