In Which McPolack Shares an Unappealing Aspect of Herself

So, along with being the Spit Capital of the Known Universe, Downtown Crossing is also home to a high number of teenage punks, people in wheelchairs, and the blind. There’s actually a blind woman who works in my office. She’s real surly and she has a wee bit of a white beard going on under her chin. I wonder: if I were blind, would I let my own chin hairs grow in?

There was a fire near the building yesterday and we had to evacuate and she was led downstairs by another employee. While we were outside waiting for the all-clear she complained about how she had houseguests over the weekend and they were bitching about the rain like it was her fault, and she told them, there are other hotels in town but they’re not free. Later I helped her turn her computer on. When she got up to use the bathroom, she bumped into my chair. She said something along the lines of the fact that she was just feeling her way out the door. I said “Don’t worry about it” and she barked “I won’t.”

Then when I was getting on to the T today I was behind one blind guy making his way to the orange line. And as I step into the waiting area for the Red Line, there’s yet another blind guy. They’re everywhere!

One of the great things about blind people is that you can TOTALLY stare at them. You could even count their chin hairs. Because, ha-ha!, they can’t see you.