It’s weird.

Every time I take the subway I am on red alert.

I scan faces, visually inspect backpacks.

Just like any trained Girl Scout, I always try to be prepared.

Yesterday, a perturbed man with a heavy, bulky coat kept walking up and down on the 1 train, getting into people’s faces, but not saying anything.

In the ‘old days’ I would not give it that much thought…just another crazy person riding the subway.

Times are different…I checked out my fellow riders and you could smell tension in the air.

What was under his coat, was this guy going to go postal?!

We were between the 34th Street and 28th Street stops.

As he became more agitated, people were leaning back in their seats.

Several men were standing and holding onto the poles. I noticed they were clenching and unclenching their fists.

It felt as if the train was getting ready to rumble.

A teenager next to me started to sob.

I grabbed her hand and tried to distract her.

It made we realize how uptight this country is both from the constant undercurrent of terrorism and from the stench coming from Agent Orange, contaminating the White House.

We pulled into the 28th Street station, my stop as well as the nut case on the train.

He ran off, screaming and I waited while he ascended the stairs.

I followed a few minutes later and he was standing in the middle of the street, yelling at drivers, hands in pockets.

I quickly moved in the other direction and turned to see him being tackled.

Just another dull day in the City.

*Artifity