Summary

On the subway one Friday night, the cars fill with people. When 65-year-old Hornclaw boards, no one pays attention to her. This is how most people treat senior citizens. She is so invisible, she is “like an extra in a movie” (13). No one moves to give her a seat. When another man boards and no one gives him a seat, he attacks a young woman, accusing her of being disrespectful. She says she is pregnant, but the man disbelieves her, repeatedly hitting her face. Hornclaw tries comforting the girl when the man sits and pretends to be asleep, but she is still upset. At the next station, the man moves to get off the train, but becomes paralyzed, blocking everyone’s way. Then he collapses, dead.

Hornclaw cleans her poisoned blade in the bathroom. The poison “causes paralysis in mere seconds” (19). As she...