On a 1 train uptown a young woman enters the train carrying a microwave oven. People clear a path for her to sit down, which she does, awkwardly, the microwave perched on her lap, her arms hugging it against her chest. The microwave is covered with miscellaneous stickers (one of which says, ‘I’m vaccinated!’), the way a college student’s notebook would be. I get stuck on this detail for a while: who would cover their microwave oven with stickers? The only scenario that really makes sense is that the young woman bought this sticker-covered microwave oven used and is now transporting it back home. An older man to my right begins motioning to the young woman, pointing to the seat next to her. She looks confused at first – his gestures could be interpreted different ways – then she realizes he wants her to set the microwave down in the seat next to her. ‘Oh, that’s okay,’ she says, ‘I’d rather keep holding it. It’s really heavy and pretty hard to pick up.’ The train, traveling into Harlem, makes a few more stops, people enter and exit, many noticing and commenting – in muted tones – on the young woman with the microwave. Her attention, meanwhile, has become riveted on the appliance on her lap (it occurs to me that she is of an age where her attention would otherwise certainly be focused on her smartphone). At the next stop an older man enters the train and sits down next to her. A half-dozen lanyards hang on his neck and he’s brought with him a handcart piled with white buckets taped together in a towering configuration. He sees the microwave and immediately begins asking the young woman questions about it. She answers, reluctantly. It’s clear by this point she’s had enough of being the center of attention on this particular train ride. The man, undeterred, follows up with a long series of anecdotes about his own microwave: how convenient it is, how ‘in just five minutes, everything’s done!’ (he repeats this dramatic conclusion several times for emphasis). This continues for two more stops until the young woman, finally arrived at her destination, nods politely, stands up with visible strain, and walks unsteadily out of the train car with her conspicuous load.