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Three stories from public transit
Jul. 18th, 2007 10:29 pmIt's not really a commuter bus because it is going against the flow of traffic, but there are two men in business suits on the bus, complete with laptop cases. One is silently lip-synching along with his MP3 player, complete with toe tapping and occasional air drumming. The other, with no headphones in sight, is quietly singing something that sounds like a country song, though I can't distinguish the words. I wonder what they are each hearing.
--
They got on at the same stop, but they obviously just met each other.
I can't see the younger of the two new passengers very well from where I am sitting, but I can hear her. English is definitely her second language. She seems to be in her mid-twenties.
"What do you do?" she asks the other passenger.
"I'm a writer. Well, I pay the bills using the sex trade, but I want to get out of that. It's shallow. It's just all really shallow."
"How old are you?" I don't think she understood the part about the sex trade.
"I'll be fifty-four next month."
"You have lots of tattoos."
"It's something I can give myself that no one can ever take away. I've lost a lot, but no one can take my ink."
"Are you a boy or a girl?" she asks bluntly.
"Some of both. Not really either."
"No, but, what are you really?"
"People always want you to be able to tick off either A – female – or B – male. I'm C – all of the above."
"All of the above!" the girl is delighted. I don't think her questions were meant to be rude; I think she's just honestly curious.
--
I noticed the Japanese mandarin box when I got on the bus because I love mandarins and they aren't in season right now. I didn't notice anything else odd about the box until about a couple of blocks later, when the contents started mewing.
The woman opens the box and removes a tiny orange kitten. She holds it close to her chest and it seems pretty content to stay there, but it cranes its head around, staring around the busy and noisy bus with big curious eyes. It doesn't seem scared at all, but it occasionally says "mew" loudly – well, as loudly as something the size of a medium-sized East Van rat can – as if to greet the other people on the bus. The woman holding the kitten tries to quiet it:
"Mew!"
"Shhh."
"Mew!"
"Shhh."
"Mew!"
"Shhh-shhh."
Shushing a cat works about as well as asking it to heel, so it continues to mew and she continues to shush until I get off the bus and walk the half block to my home.
--
They got on at the same stop, but they obviously just met each other.
I can't see the younger of the two new passengers very well from where I am sitting, but I can hear her. English is definitely her second language. She seems to be in her mid-twenties.
"What do you do?" she asks the other passenger.
"I'm a writer. Well, I pay the bills using the sex trade, but I want to get out of that. It's shallow. It's just all really shallow."
"How old are you?" I don't think she understood the part about the sex trade.
"I'll be fifty-four next month."
"You have lots of tattoos."
"It's something I can give myself that no one can ever take away. I've lost a lot, but no one can take my ink."
"Are you a boy or a girl?" she asks bluntly.
"Some of both. Not really either."
"No, but, what are you really?"
"People always want you to be able to tick off either A – female – or B – male. I'm C – all of the above."
"All of the above!" the girl is delighted. I don't think her questions were meant to be rude; I think she's just honestly curious.
--
I noticed the Japanese mandarin box when I got on the bus because I love mandarins and they aren't in season right now. I didn't notice anything else odd about the box until about a couple of blocks later, when the contents started mewing.
The woman opens the box and removes a tiny orange kitten. She holds it close to her chest and it seems pretty content to stay there, but it cranes its head around, staring around the busy and noisy bus with big curious eyes. It doesn't seem scared at all, but it occasionally says "mew" loudly – well, as loudly as something the size of a medium-sized East Van rat can – as if to greet the other people on the bus. The woman holding the kitten tries to quiet it:
"Mew!"
"Shhh."
"Mew!"
"Shhh."
"Mew!"
"Shhh-shhh."
Shushing a cat works about as well as asking it to heel, so it continues to mew and she continues to shush until I get off the bus and walk the half block to my home.
