Up Stream

Come on, it's time to go. We both get our shoes on and grab our backpacks. After locking the door, we all enter the elevator for the ride down to one. We exit the elevator, and step out of the building from the side door. My wife, my son and I uncharacteristically walk away from the school and head towards the train. My wife  departs our company at the deli to get a coffee , which leave my son and I heading into the morning rush. As a result of a three hour school day, we decided that my son will spend the day in my office. 

The train ride is uneventful, comprising of some video game play and father- son conversation. I notice my son is engrossed with a game where the goal is to prevent car accidents my changing the speed of vehicles as they enter an intersection. "Looks easier than it is..." my son whines as he sighs every time there is a miscalculation and a crash occurs. The train pulls into Grand Central Station and as we depart I hold my son's hand as we surgically enter the flow of platform traffic. We approach the main concourse of GCP and we try to estimate the amount of people in the cavernous station. "Remember the game you were playing?" I mention. "Lets pretend we are in the game and we have to make it from one end of the concourse to the other without getting bumped". "You're on!" my son exclaims and we start our game. We weave, adjust our cadence and swerve through the thousands of rushing commuters, strolling tourists, speedy workers and even a few wobbly vagrants, and are just about at the other end when my son yelps "Oh, someone skimmed my shoulder!", and I say, "Oh I just got bumped!" as we cannot maintain adequate spacing. We slide through the unforgiving cross traffic and slip into the stream heading up the ramp and exit the south west side. The outside stream is just as treacherous but just like a school of fish, we are in the west bound current on our way through Bryant Park and out the Sixth Avenue side.

We leave the current and stop for a much needed coffee and a drinkable yogurt, and end up in front of my building, already exhausted but ready for the work day.