Only in New York City

The other day, I was on my way home from the play. There were several service changes on the subway lines because it was late Saturday night and weekends seem to be when they do the upkeep. Well, knowing ahead of time, I took a different line home. I soon discovered that there was upkeep construction going on on that line as well, and half-way home the whole train was emptied and all of us had to wait for 15-20 minutes for another train.

Lucky me, I jumped off right by where the little row of chairs is and got a seat to wait. A couple sat down next to me and started chatting. To my right a woman approached the bench. She was quite a large woman. She was all in black wearing a lace-up corset, skirt, and fishnets with big boots. Her hair was dyed dark with extreme highlights. She had heavy black eye liner on and several piercings all over her face. She sat down on the other side of the couple.

After a few minutes of just letting my mind wander, I caught a little snippet of the couple's conversation. They were talking about some show the man's friend had just done. He said, "Yeah, they did it in like the biggest mormon church in the world." I'm thinking, the Conference Center? Then he says, "I think he called it the Crystal Palace." Well, not really thinking, I leaned over and said (don't laugh), "Actually, that's not a Mormon Church, it's Scientologist." I wanted to set the record straight. But right after I said that, the lady in black leaned over and said. "No, it's not Scientologist, it's Televangelist. I know because sometimes I watch it just to get pissed off."

I couldn't believe that the conversation had just occured, and I realized that my previous obsession with Tom, Katie and Scientology needs a little factual help, but then again so did the lady in black. In the end I was just glad that neither the Hollywood Celebrity Center (that the Scientologists have for their stars) nor the Crystal Palace (Buck Owen's dance hall in Bakersfield, CA) nor the Crystal Cathedral (which is home to one of the largest Televangelist Dynasties) was confused for the largest Mormon Church. So although I hadn't had a gospel conversation, I did feel good for at least getting the facts straight (with the help of my friend in black).