Without Subway Service, One Family Treks Through Brooklyn
The blustery wind kept blowing the hood off of Wyndolan Rosa's puffy parka. Yet the 61-year-old pushed on.
"I can't do the snow, the ice," she said. "I'm not good in the winter at all,"
The decision to entirely shut down the subway system with fewer than seven hours notice had some harsh consequences for those, like Rosa and her daughter, who didn't get the word.
Their journey started Monday night in the Bronx where Rosa, her daughter and grandson live. They were hoping to renovate their new East New York apartment Tuesday, so the three of them hopped on a train despite the snow storm.
"The report I got on my phone was that no one would be allowed on the streets, they didn't say anything about MTA, buses, nothing," Rosa said, shaking her head.
When their train terminated at Jay Street in downtown Brooklyn around midnight and there were no further trains, they waited for several hours in a Dunkin' Donuts. Rosa called her son for help and he trekked from East New York to downtown Brooklyn to meet them. They put the 5-year-old, Samir Penn, in a shopping cart and covered him with blankets. And then they set off together to walk the six miles back to East New York.
By dawn, the sky was bluish grey and they were a quarter of the way. The family stopped at a bodega on Fulton Street for a break.
Penn's uncle popped a red Hawaiian Punch and lifted the boy out of the cart. Peering out from under his Spiderman knit hat, he was all smiles, loving the adventure.
"Your legs okay?" Rosa asked. "If they feel funny, you tell uncle so he can stop and fix them for you."
Samir was lifted back into the cart, wrapped in brown and grey blankets with his knees against his chest.
"Ready to rock and roll?" his uncle asked.
By mid-morning the roads were plowed. Rosa and her family finally managed to hail a cab, only a mile from their home.
Once they got home, Samir gulped down a hot chocolate and some french toast. He took cough syrup and went off to bed.
Rosa said next time there's a blizzard, she probably won't venture out.
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