Indoctrination

She boards with a two-month-old infant in her arms.

I look over and smile at the pudgy baby as the woman makes faces. The baby smiles as she goggles in that myopic way newborns do.

I turn back to the novel in my hands.

The woman's mobile phone burps out its polyphonic signature. She answers.

She's three feet away, but the voice on the other end is loud. It carries into the compartment.

Two minutes pass. The train nears the station.

The woman places the phone near the baby's ear so she can hear the voice. The baby registers surprise, followed by a comical frown.

She shifts her little head toward the phone to gawp at it.

The woman pulls the phone away. The baby follows its movement.

The woman ends her conversation as the train rolls to a stop.

She bundles up the baby and exits the carriage.

They start them young in Hong Kong, I think to myself, as the doors close.

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