Tagger by Alan Wolf

"Geez, gotta grab a hanger, this train is packed, freakin' rush hour on the E train", says Tagger. Lots of folks coming and going as Tagger steadies his sprays in his bag.

"Damn, what was that? Some damn thing flying by my head. What the fuck? Some dude playing pub darts in the subway. Damn"

"eeehhhea!"

Tagger wonders what the hell that noise could be. Two rows down he sees a young man with a beat up acoustic guitar and a slide made from a wine bottle on his pinky. This cat is dressed in a beat up suit from a Goodwill store. He's wearing a Pork Pie hat and spats on his shoes. Way, way out there.

He's also blind and autistic. Nobody there to care for him. Just a beat up guitar and a wine bottle slide. Kid continues to wail on slide. Very noisy.

Tagger drops his bag of sprays and strides towards the young man. He quietly sits down beside him and listens. "You need to tune it in open E, my friend", calmly taking it from the young man. Tagger retunes the guitar and hands it back. "Play the blues now, my brother", says Tagger quietly.

The young man wails. Both he and Tagger smile. As Tagger's stop approaches he says "You play on my friend, I've gotta paint a picture". Swish, fizz, and a quick filigree is applied in orange and black. The young man smiles but is unaware of the beauty. Like most of us......

The train stops. Swish, the door opens and Tagger is gone.