16 January 2013, 5:37pm

I was running late. So much so I nearly ran over a woman heading down into the subway at the same time. In my defense, she had decided to walk down the center of one of those narrow subway entrances that allow for only two to pass by without issue. What compels someone to occupy the whole of a space unnecessarily?

And as it happens, my Metro card failed on the first swipe but it mattered not as there was no train to rush to. Second swipe - success. Now, to make it to the desired waiting place. Yes, I am aware of which car to get on to facilitate the fastest egress from both the train and station - I am one of those.

I approach my spot and after a few seconds hear a sound. Wheeling around, I see two of the big dark-colored garbage bags set against the wall and both are tied up well. A quick focus shows me the ground in the space in front of where the bags meet is wet. I look up and think to myself there must be a leak as the intermittent sound continues. It was then that I noticed out of my peripheral vision that one of the bags shuddered.

I look down and see the bag move again. The movement subsided. Then again. This time, the movement revealed itself as bulge making its way to another section of the bag. It was indeed a rat for sure and from the size of the bulge, a rather large, one roughly seven inches in length (18-19 cm for you metric readers).

The immediate thought that entered my head as I looked on was that this particular rat was carrying on foraging for whatever food it could get as opposed to what would have been the natural human instinct to escape from a similar predicament. Did this rat actually not have situational awareness? I then pondered how long it would take for this trapped rodent to switch from feed to flee.

And for whatever reason, it reminded me of a woman I had, kind of, started to see that for me seemed like another life ago. She literally could not see 'the trees for the forest.' At a early enough age, I realized I had situational awareness and could maneuver through crowds. She, sadly, could not and I freely admit that I could not spend any time with a woman like that no matter how cute she was. Yes, I stopped seeing her because she couldn't walk through a crowd. Seems petty but what if we needed to get out of a place fast? That's important to me. You might think me shallow to conjure up a character defect like that but it does speak to fundamental analytical processing. And, yes, I am most certain I have failings others have observed...

She laughed off her cluelessness with what seemed almost zen. I had wanted to admire her for that except that in a very short time, this clearly annoyed me. And for whatever processing I engaged in at the time, I found this life-threatening. How insane that thought? Maybe this woman will be the death of me!

The blow of the train's horn broke my connection to that memory. I looked at the bag to see one last shake of the bag. Odd that I didn't hear the oncoming rumble.

Odd that I remembered her.

Odd what triggers specific memories.

I board the train to carry me on nearer towards my intended destination and I think that trapped rat is a survivor and will make it out of the bag. Maybe not in the station but maybe at the landfill which for a rat might be Shangri-La.

Then I think, "Better in a subway station than my home."