Public Transportation: Fun for Everyone
I thought I was going to be late for my 7:40am bus today but I wasn't, thank the little gods.
The driver for my first bus is a very nice woman who calls me "sweetie" and has my transfer ready when I get on. I think she was bored or lonely today because she struck up a conversation with me just before my stop. It was a nice change of pace for the morning, where I usually stare out the window wondering what the Hell I am doing out of bed so freakin' early.
I like public transportation (bus or train, doesn't matter) mainly because of the opportunity for significant people watching it affords. I love to people watch. I don't know any of the people I watch personally so I give them little names in my head so I can discuss them with Rany when the need arises.
My Haitian Friend
She is a wonderful, round woman who dresses colorfully and is known to laugh out loud for no reason at all. Sometimes she is so happy to see the bus arrive that she cheers when it pulls up to the curb. She always gives me a great big smile when she sees me. Listening to her speak in Creole is like listening to a happy brook gurgling away in a mossy forest. Usually I see her in hats or headwraps but today she had her hair uncovered and she had a brand new 'do! She looked GREAT!
Human Jerky
You wouldn't know it by the name but I actually feel very sorry for this woman. She is a career smoker who smokes these long, white cigarettes almost without pause. Over the years this has aged her face and skin to such a degree that she looks like she's been turned into jerky. She carries a little grocery bag with her sometimes and it always contains one package of Junior Mints. It doesn't matter what time of the day it is, she always smells of alcohol. She never speaks and she looks both forbidding and like she needs a friend.
Locomotion
This person is not a bus passenger, rather she is a woman who I see from the bus as she walks to work every morning. She has a no-nonsense look about her and she walks quickly and with purpose. No one gives this woman attitude...or if they do, they don't live to tell about it. One day I hope to see her smile. I think that would be a sight.
Chit and Chat
This is a pair of women who work in the mall and every morning they twitter and chatter in their back of the bus seats. Their native language is something asian and it sounds like they are engaged in rapid-fire tongue calisthenics or something when they talk. They are both very happy women but you can tell they don't like getting up as early as they do.
Mushroom Lady
All through winter and even a little into spring, this woman wore a tobaggan style hat that made her look like a strange variety of mushroom. It was always easy to recognize her and since we often travelled on the same buses, I saw her nearly every day. She seems a generally unhappy woman but I have nothing to base that opinion upon except for the fact that I have never seen her smile and she is not very talkative.
The Contingent
This is a group of people I only know from my transfer stop in the square. They all seem to work together but they are such an odd mix of people that it is hard not to stare at them when I see them at the stop. They are
Gram
A lovely librarian type, all curves and soft smiles. She seems to be the "Mother Hen" of the group. She has no prejudices and seems to be the center of the group.
Banana Head
A young, tall African-American man who wears a black knit hat over his hair, which fills the hat and distends it out behind him, making his head resemble a banana or some sort of UFO. He has a intellectual feel about him and I imagine him to be a jazz aficionado or a writer. I suspect he keeps his hair in braids or dreds and perhaps is required by his workplace to keep it under a hat. Or perhaps he keeps it under his hat because he is bound to do so by his religion's rules. I have heard that certain faiths require a person to keep their hair covered until it has reached the desired length or stage of completion.
Vampire Goth Lesbian Penguin
Last but definitely not least is this young lady. When I first saw her, she appeared to be a relatively conservative young woman who happened to be slightly overweight. About a month ago, I saw her in full makeup, with her hair done and I thought "wow, what's up with her?" And for the longest time, she reminded me of someone, though I couldn't figure out who. After I saw her with the makeup, I realized she reminds me (unfortunately) of Danny Devito's portrayal of "The Penguin" but without the grisly hair, the white makeup, and the dead fish.
A week after I saw her with the makeup, this young lady went through the most astonishing transformation. One day "plain Jane", next day "Vampire Goth Lesbian Penguin". She showed up at the bus stop with a bull ring in her nose. It had two tiny purple triangles, one on each end. She wore a black leather bomber jacket, black leather shoes with plaid highlights, black slacks, colorful tops, and carried a satchel. Her makeup went from glam to goth, changing to a watermelon shade of lipstick worn both on lips and under the eyes.
Today, she wore cargo pants, a lime green top, and--oddly enough--a fishing cap complete with lures. I do not pretend to understand but I do applaud this woman. If she has any fear, she doesn't show it.
Scrub Brush
This man has hair the exact same shape and (by the looks) feel as a toilet scrubber. He gets off at the Dunkin' Donuts on Main and always, always, always darts right into traffic to cross the street. Obviously he has absolute faith in the MA law regarding pedestrians and the right of way. Since I sit on the side of the bus that would have the best view of his demise, should he get run over, I feel somehow responsible for his fate and so I always watch until he is safely across the road.
Mr. Bobblehead
A very sweet old man who likes to go to the mall to get out of his house. Time and age have crooked his spine in a way that looks painful to me and his head shakes back and forth incessantly on a very thin neck. He puts me in mind of what Icabod Crane might look like in his declining years. He watches everything that happens on the bus and I believe him to be a fellow people watcher like myself.
Mister
This man seems to be itinerant and hangs around outside the Campus Convenience store which is the bus stop at which I catch my evening bus. He impresses me as a life long alcoholic and he is unable to speak with any clarity, so he is reduced to simple hand gestures. Most often he will ask if you happen to have any cigarettes. He doesn't seem to be in anyway dangerous and yet whenever he is near, I get slightly creeped out.
Ah, there are so many! I shall have to continue at a later date with my observations on fellow travellers.
Until then, here's to travelling by bus and always forgetting a book to read...
The driver for my first bus is a very nice woman who calls me "sweetie" and has my transfer ready when I get on. I think she was bored or lonely today because she struck up a conversation with me just before my stop. It was a nice change of pace for the morning, where I usually stare out the window wondering what the Hell I am doing out of bed so freakin' early.
I like public transportation (bus or train, doesn't matter) mainly because of the opportunity for significant people watching it affords. I love to people watch. I don't know any of the people I watch personally so I give them little names in my head so I can discuss them with Rany when the need arises.
My Haitian Friend
She is a wonderful, round woman who dresses colorfully and is known to laugh out loud for no reason at all. Sometimes she is so happy to see the bus arrive that she cheers when it pulls up to the curb. She always gives me a great big smile when she sees me. Listening to her speak in Creole is like listening to a happy brook gurgling away in a mossy forest. Usually I see her in hats or headwraps but today she had her hair uncovered and she had a brand new 'do! She looked GREAT!
Human Jerky
You wouldn't know it by the name but I actually feel very sorry for this woman. She is a career smoker who smokes these long, white cigarettes almost without pause. Over the years this has aged her face and skin to such a degree that she looks like she's been turned into jerky. She carries a little grocery bag with her sometimes and it always contains one package of Junior Mints. It doesn't matter what time of the day it is, she always smells of alcohol. She never speaks and she looks both forbidding and like she needs a friend.
Locomotion
This person is not a bus passenger, rather she is a woman who I see from the bus as she walks to work every morning. She has a no-nonsense look about her and she walks quickly and with purpose. No one gives this woman attitude...or if they do, they don't live to tell about it. One day I hope to see her smile. I think that would be a sight.
Chit and Chat
This is a pair of women who work in the mall and every morning they twitter and chatter in their back of the bus seats. Their native language is something asian and it sounds like they are engaged in rapid-fire tongue calisthenics or something when they talk. They are both very happy women but you can tell they don't like getting up as early as they do.
Mushroom Lady
All through winter and even a little into spring, this woman wore a tobaggan style hat that made her look like a strange variety of mushroom. It was always easy to recognize her and since we often travelled on the same buses, I saw her nearly every day. She seems a generally unhappy woman but I have nothing to base that opinion upon except for the fact that I have never seen her smile and she is not very talkative.
The Contingent
This is a group of people I only know from my transfer stop in the square. They all seem to work together but they are such an odd mix of people that it is hard not to stare at them when I see them at the stop. They are
Gram
A lovely librarian type, all curves and soft smiles. She seems to be the "Mother Hen" of the group. She has no prejudices and seems to be the center of the group.
Banana Head
A young, tall African-American man who wears a black knit hat over his hair, which fills the hat and distends it out behind him, making his head resemble a banana or some sort of UFO. He has a intellectual feel about him and I imagine him to be a jazz aficionado or a writer. I suspect he keeps his hair in braids or dreds and perhaps is required by his workplace to keep it under a hat. Or perhaps he keeps it under his hat because he is bound to do so by his religion's rules. I have heard that certain faiths require a person to keep their hair covered until it has reached the desired length or stage of completion.
Vampire Goth Lesbian Penguin
Last but definitely not least is this young lady. When I first saw her, she appeared to be a relatively conservative young woman who happened to be slightly overweight. About a month ago, I saw her in full makeup, with her hair done and I thought "wow, what's up with her?" And for the longest time, she reminded me of someone, though I couldn't figure out who. After I saw her with the makeup, I realized she reminds me (unfortunately) of Danny Devito's portrayal of "The Penguin" but without the grisly hair, the white makeup, and the dead fish.
A week after I saw her with the makeup, this young lady went through the most astonishing transformation. One day "plain Jane", next day "Vampire Goth Lesbian Penguin". She showed up at the bus stop with a bull ring in her nose. It had two tiny purple triangles, one on each end. She wore a black leather bomber jacket, black leather shoes with plaid highlights, black slacks, colorful tops, and carried a satchel. Her makeup went from glam to goth, changing to a watermelon shade of lipstick worn both on lips and under the eyes.
Today, she wore cargo pants, a lime green top, and--oddly enough--a fishing cap complete with lures. I do not pretend to understand but I do applaud this woman. If she has any fear, she doesn't show it.
Scrub Brush
This man has hair the exact same shape and (by the looks) feel as a toilet scrubber. He gets off at the Dunkin' Donuts on Main and always, always, always darts right into traffic to cross the street. Obviously he has absolute faith in the MA law regarding pedestrians and the right of way. Since I sit on the side of the bus that would have the best view of his demise, should he get run over, I feel somehow responsible for his fate and so I always watch until he is safely across the road.
Mr. Bobblehead
A very sweet old man who likes to go to the mall to get out of his house. Time and age have crooked his spine in a way that looks painful to me and his head shakes back and forth incessantly on a very thin neck. He puts me in mind of what Icabod Crane might look like in his declining years. He watches everything that happens on the bus and I believe him to be a fellow people watcher like myself.
Mister
This man seems to be itinerant and hangs around outside the Campus Convenience store which is the bus stop at which I catch my evening bus. He impresses me as a life long alcoholic and he is unable to speak with any clarity, so he is reduced to simple hand gestures. Most often he will ask if you happen to have any cigarettes. He doesn't seem to be in anyway dangerous and yet whenever he is near, I get slightly creeped out.
Ah, there are so many! I shall have to continue at a later date with my observations on fellow travellers.
Until then, here's to travelling by bus and always forgetting a book to read...
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