Ghostwriter

Chapter 10

"Sure. Did you grab the Vietnamese food already?" I hope he says yes. I really don't want to step into a restaurant and be assaulted by the smell of everything that's not Roman noodles.

"Um, no. Maja told me about a good place on 4th street, though. It's close enough to the hospital that we could walk just a couple of blocks and be there." Dang it. We hurry onto the train. I find an empty, blue plastic seat right next to the aisle. Hill holds the bars on the roof.

"Alright." The train's crowded. The man with the broiler hat next to me glances up from his phone when I sit down, but otherwise says nothing. A couple more people jog into the train before the door slides shut.

Colton sniffles in my arms. The woman wearing too much perfume in front of me turns around. "He's cute." A couple of kids giggle and puff out their cheeks, trying to make Colton laugh.

"Thank you." Colton buries himself into the nook of my shoulder. I straighten his hat.

The woman smiles at me. "My brother has got one about that age," She pulls a stick of gum out of her purse, "Want one?"

What are we, high schoolers? She does look young, but her heavy makeup makes it hard to tell. "Um, no thanks."

She sticks her hand out. "I'm Gwen. New to the city."

Probably a Batman fanatic, maybe a charity worker. I shake Gwen's hand. "Hi, I'm Antigone. The baby's Colton, and that's Hill." I point to Hill, who shakes her hand. He smiles at her.

"Cool. I work at the Gotham News Network. I'm an assistant of a video editor, but I really want to write for the online column. There's so much in Gotham to write about. Did you know that there's more vigilantes in Gotham than any other city in the world?"

Yes. I've met two. "No. That's very interesting."

Hill lays his hand on my shoulder. "I'm the head of Wayne's Animal Shelter."

Gwen glances at me, waiting. I blush. "I'm a mom."

She nods, her eyelashes fluttering. "No harm in that. My mom was a stay-at-home mom too. She said she didn't want anyone else to raise us. Being a mom's a fulltime job, anyway. People should take it more seriously. I could never do it, though. Too many dreams floating around in my empty skull, as mom likes to say." She laughs.

I squirm in my seat and brush my fingers over Colton's cheek. I stare at the back of the seat. "I, well, um. I understand the working moms. Sometimes people need to work to provide for their family."

"Of course, I agree." She smiles. Her brown eyes, hazed over by her makeup, flit between Hill and I. "So... do you all know any good places to eat? I'm tired of grabbing the Big Belly Burger that's right next door to me."

Hill pipes up. "Well, I've heard there's a good Vietnamese place on Fourth. We were just about to go check it out."

"What's that, in two more stops?" She peers up at the roof.

"One more. The one after this one." Hill glances forward. The train's slowing down.

"Cool. I might just pop in later. My stop's this one though." Gwen chews her gum. I pull my scarf out of Colton's mouth.

The train halts, and Gwen clambers out, waving goodbye. People step in to fill the empty spots. Hill adjusts the bag on his shoulder. "At least she didn't ask for your phone number."

"Yeah." Gotham's a big city; we'll ever see each other again. My shoulders straighten and I lean back in the chair.

The metro train's doors clink shut, and we're off again. Hill and I make small talk about work and animals. I blink and flick my arm to keep myself awake. Colton, despite whatever I do, continues to stuff my scarf into his mouth. The train lulls to a stop, and I rise from my seat. Hill and I exit together and make our way to the hole-in-the-wall on Fourth.