Author: Christine Elias

I’m been visiting my Aunt lately. She’s my late Mother’s youngest sister and she’s not a lot older than I am but she’s of another generation.

For example, when I visited her a few weeks ago, her first words to me where: ses debeli? Translated this means: did you get fat? This is not that strange — my Mother sometimes said the same thing. One gets used to it and besides I was never that fat — not like some of my poor (first, second and third) cousins who were so fat that they would never find a husband.

I wasn’t any fatter than usual and I told my Aunt as much. I illustrated the fact by pulling at my sweater demonstrating that was very loose since I was not hitting the town but rather visting my Aunt in the suburbs. (It is important to note that she’s my favourite Aunt and I love her very much. This type of exchange is not at all unusual in my culture.)

When I visited this past weekend I was prepared. I decided to skip the weekend jeans and I wore some skinny pants and a top that was not wooly, warm and loose.

I greeted my Aunt with: so who’s debela (fat) now? She laughed and conceded the point.

Then she proceeded to feed me the entire day.

So I was coming back from the East side of the city and I was playing a game on my new iPhone.

Usually I listen to podcasts but I have a hard time hearing on the subway because the Bluetooth device that transmits sounds to my hearing aids also picks up a lot of ambient noise. This is not usually an issue walking around (my typical mode of transport) but the noise of the cars drowns out much of the sound coming from the device.

So I was playing a game instead. I had been playing this game since Kennedy station and I wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on around me. Truth be told it was pretty quiet.

Then at Coxwell station, a young man grabbed the phone right out of my hands and quickly stepped out of the car just as the doors closed. I didn’t notice him in the car and I didn’t hear him coming — no surprise there.

A perfectly-timed crime. I had no chance to react.

Not that I would have chased him if I could; what would I have done in the unlikely event that I caught him — nicely ask for my phone back?

I got off at the next stop to cancel my phone. It took me a few moments to figure out a phone call now costs fify cents!

Today I had to travel on the subway again and people all around me were people pecking away at their devices. Everyone except me.

I know that it is a lot harder to pull that criminal maneuver in a crowded car. I was robbed because it was an uncrowded car and I was sitting close to an easy exit for Mr. Robber.

But logic be damned, I was not bringing out my new phone…the replacement will not be leaving my pocket.