Look-a-Like

Woman 1/12/09

She looked like a young Carol Kane. The Carol Kane of Annie Hall days, still with youth and naiveté. I wonder if she knew? She had the same Russo-euro aristocratic features. This angelic porcelain white face with almond eyes and a small delicate nose. My guess is that she was in her late teens or very early twenties.

Her hair was definitely Carol Kane. All light brown curls – this gigantic mop on a small figure. Her’s was pulled up into a bun today, but there were still curls and plenty of fizzy strays struggling to get free.

What really cemented the Carol Kane association in my mind was her sense of style. Or should I say her dress sense. It was below 30 degrees today, and the woman is wearing a short above-the-knee skirt. Granted it was a cotton knit skirt, but then again, it was also Astro Turf green. She was wearing tights to ward off the cold. White tights, and these thermal socks pulled just to the bottom of her calves. And Asics running shoes. Her main defense against the cold was her winter coat. This was either used – Goodwill not vintage, or stolen from some Grandmother’s closet. It was a pea coat style winter coat, that was a faded light plum (almost sandy); double breasted with a fur collar. It was also about two sizes too big for her, which made it hang like a sack on her shoulders. Coupled with her white tights and small head, it could have swallowed her whole.

You could see the deep blue knit sweater peeping from her coat sleeves, and it nearly matched the big blue knit scarf wrapped around her neck. Clearly, she had a thing for knits – or did she really just raid some old woman’s closet? At least the Asics shoes were her very own.

There was very little else in terms of dress about her. No finishing accessories, maybe some light eye shadow and lip gloss.

She brought out her book for the trip. It was An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott. Her hands were so small with fairly short well-kept nails, though not obviously manicured.

She had a small tote with her. A blue canvas accented with black straps and a black bottom panel. There was this Obama button that I had never seen before; just the word Obama in caps, reversed white on a black background. The tote itself read: Everyman’s Library Celebrates 100 Years.

The time came for her to exit the train. She put on her tiny black leather gloves and slowly made her way off the train and towards the exit on the platform. She was walking with a slight limp, favoring her right side.