Subway

Today I was running errands around town for my boss. I dashed onto the 1 train for one short stop and sat down in a nearly-empty car. Across from me, a small old man was pouring over a charcoal drawing he was creating of a girl sitting a few seats down from me. The man looked like he might have been either homeless or very poor, as his clothes were patched and he only had a stump of charcoal pencil and a few random sheets of paper. He had such a quiet dignity while delicately shading in the girl's face. I've gotten New York-ish in that I usually don't talk to strangers while travelling, but I couldn't help exclaiming how fantastic his sketching was. The girl just smiled and said he started it 2 or 3 stops ago after asking her permission. Once we reached my stop (and the girl's too) he carefully folded another sheet of precious paper on top of it (I think he got it from an office, as there were graphs on the back) so it wouldn't smudge. I hope I see him again. I want to take him some more paper.