I was taking the subway to work on Friday,  and i had a few bags with me for the weekend (it’s always an enjoyable experience lugging bags on the subway like an urban mule) . The F train (my daily train) pulled in as I stepped onto the platform, and I rushed to squeeze onto the crowded train before the doors closed. At this point, I would like to thank the six people who just stepped one foot inside of the doors and stopped,  instead of walking into the open spaces by the seats (forcing me to squeeze in and do my best ‘pancake” impression to avoid the closing door). Thanks and well done. Just continue to read your AMNewYork while I struggle with my bags in my one-foot- square space.

So as the train pulls away, I try to rearrange my belongings so that I can avoid leaning on the guy next to me. A woman taps me on the shoulder, points, and says, “Look, your scarf”. I immediately assume she is complimenting me on my lovely, blue scarf, but instead, she was pointing out that my lovely blue scarf was caught in the subway door (i still think she liked the scarf). So I laugh and try to pull the scarf out to no avail, since the doors on the subway close as tight as a bear trap. “I’ll just get it out at the next stop”, I tell the helpful lady, and I go back to what I was doing.

All of a sudden, panic strikes me when I realize that one end of the scarf is tied in a knot around my neck, and the other end of the scarf is dangling outside of the moving subway car. If the scarf outside of the subway gets caught on something, it could rip my head off. Literally. This is bad.

So I drop all of the bags I’m holding and untie my scarf as fast as I can. Thanks to my cat-like reflexes, I was able to remove the scarf  before my head popped off and rolled across the subway car (how terrifying would that have been for the people in my car? Serves them right for not moving away from the doors). At the next stop, I took the scarf out of the door, and continued on with my day.

I don’t like to use the word “Hero” often, but I think it applies in this situation.