Hungry for Fruit

I’m riding the Brown El to work. It is 7:00am--too early for a hungry writer--a sort of trance experience for me. There is a girl eating a banana. She slowly pulls down each section of yellow skin, revealing the fruit. She does this with purpose; eyes forward out the window, chewing slowly, dreamily, like a cow chewing on cud--I wish I were a cow chewing on cud. The girl catches me staring; she eyes me sideways, much like a cow. But, she is no cow. She is a girl, embarrassed. And, I am a boy, hungry. I want to stand up, scream at her, "I'm hungry, Goddamn it! Hungry like a cow chewing on a banana!"--Maybe that cow is in a safe and green field. I look out the window. This is not sexual. This is not weird. This is disconnection--one of many mornings.