So, my friend Suzanne and I decided to walk by the 34th Street Macy's today to look at the Christmas windows, which I realize to most New Yorkers equates to suicidal behavior. It was the same, boring
Miracle on 34th Street display as the previous two years. There was lots of drama happening at every turn on 34th Street, but this was a special kind of drama: A mom walking her kid around town on a leash. It may be difficult to see, but it's almost like a chihuahua leash.
Immediately I thought of this moment from
Ragtime:
An Immigrant man leads his daughter onto the stage, a rope tied firmly to her waist.
[LITTLE BOY]
Mother!
[MOTHER]
I see! I see! He's afraid of losing her. Immigrants
are terrified of losing their children. So are we but
just not so conspicuously. Don't stare. It's not
polite to stare.
Maybe that woman's coat was afraid of losing them both.
2 comments:
The other day I saw a similar site with a child on a leash on the subway. It was completely necessary because the mother wasn't actually paying attention to said child
i work at trader joe's and there is a particular child on a leash all of the time. it's a cute back pack in the shape of a tiger. it is hooked around her waist and then the nanny (never seen the mother) holds the tail of the tiger. it may be a dressed up leash, but it is still a leash, and has always seemed fundamentally wrong to me.
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