His feet paced across the uneven pavement as he rushed towards the Central Avenue Station. Alex looked forward at the opening in front of him, watching the shadow of the elevated tracks grow closer and closer. He was already late but still thankful that no trains had passed across his view – a sign that he had timed everything correctly.

He made his way through the procession of people, all of whom looked just as sweaty and nervous as he did, to the elevated platform he had been chasing since he left. He remained waiting on the platform a story above the Brooklyn streets, staring off at the nearly undisturbed sky. From a distance he could discern an ensemble of birds flying around a single building as they outlined the shape of a halo. A man stood on the roof guiding them from below. The man moved effortlessly – left and then right, up and then down. How curious he thought to himself. What sentiment could this man have towards such simple creatures?  Could it be loneliness, anxiety, or simply just an obscure hobby? He was shaken from these thoughts by the rattling of the M Train. He took one more glance before stepping inside; the doors closing behind him.

Alex stood unconcerned with the smell of cigarette smoke that filled the train as he watched his previous curiosities fade away in the distance behind him. He continued to stare until he began to feel  tears and a burning sensation in his eyes. Confused, he looked around. He read the expressions on the surrounding faces as he tried to make sense of the smoke that had come into his focus through what were typically already dirty glasses. Following the other’s gaze, he stared down to the end of the train to a single woman who sat with her eyes closed. A long white cigarette hung from her mouth as she continued to sit silently despite the dirty looks and verbal protests from those around her. She remained still, her actions were disorderly but her demeanor was not. He continued to stare as he began to boil down the experience into a personal memory of Audrey Hepburn’s gaunt like expression as Holly Golightly. He thought back to his childhood, his father had loved Breakfast at Tiffany’s. He closed his eyes. How peculiar that something so irrelevant could bring so many memories of his father back to life – what a strange world we live in, he thought.