I was racing to the subway and forgot my headphones because it’d been a while since I had to block out my immediate surroundings, which is to say I’d been blissfully living in the country. So I got on the L and immediately felt like weeping because I was bombarded with vocal frye club prattle. Then a boy danced onto my car and announced he was selling a pair of iPhone headphones for $10. Well, you just knew they were used and nasty but it gave me an idea so I bought them (for $5, there’s no wet behind my ears) and before heading to my destination scooted over to the Apple Store to trade them in for ones that worked. I mean, in all my years in this city no one’s ever sold headphones on a car I’ve been on before so what are the odds it happened today? But that’s the NYC shuffle, isn’t it? Everything’s a struggle but there’s magic thrown in to lighten your load. I just wish I still was as sure I was as a young woman that this hard-won magic is worth it.
