A mother, speaking in broken English, rides a streetcar with her child and turns the trip into a lesson in paying attention. She reads strangers like clues: a man's rough hands suggest hard work, a woman's red eyes and thumb ring suggest a dead husband, an accent is Czech rather than German or Russian. She even guesses at a man's slippers and decides he isn't poor because of his clothes. Her guesses are tentative ("maybe"), but she clearly enjoys looking.
Midway, she tells a story from her own childhood about taking a pear, and her father saying God sees everything. Her point seems to be that the child should look closely at the world and also remember that she is seen. The mood is warm, curious, and tender. The ending reveals the stakes: they get off at a hospital, where the child's father waits. The mother's "Hold my hand" quietly shows love and worry beneath the gentle chatter.