more notes from the train

The trees are all yellow and brown and my train crawls through the fog.
It's dark when I leave at night too, which is a little depressing.
I'm not looking forward to the cold weather - which is unusual for me, I usually enjoy it.

Many evenings, when I go home, I encounter small children on the subway.
Yesterday, a young man came aboard with a tiny boy trailing behind him crying.
The man told his little one to sit down and the lady sitting next to the empty seat got up so the boy's dad could sit with him.
The little one intensified his crying but I noticed that there was a touch of drama added to it and that he frequently looked to his dad to see if he was getting a response. His little knit hat was askew and covering much of his face and he tore it off defiantly.
Most of the women sitting in that section of the car had varying degrees of emotion showing on their faces.
Some of us knew that the toddler wanted attention. Some of us felt uncomfortable for the dad, and some of us were smirking - imagining what might come next.
The dad picked up the hat and reminded him that he had a cold and needed his hat.
Toddler boy took the hat and pulled it completely over his face. Hiding.
For just a flash the dad was miffed, and then he looked around the car. His fellow passengers waited...smiling. The little boy made a few fake moaning noises from beneath the hat. The dad rolled his eyes.
Don't you laugh, I said quietly, and the lady next to me added: oh, no...it's not funny. But we all knew it was, and, by that point, so did the dad.
He lifted a tiny edge of the hat, peered under it at little Mr. Drama, and they both burst out laughing.
Knowing nods spread throughout the train.