Stuff ~ 5/10/2013

by Deb Spilko
The lady at the 7th & State bus stop had  dignified and neat appearance. Not a wrinkle on her raincoat, nor a hair out of place. As she waited for the bus, she nibbled delicately on her sandwich, cradled in a tidy bouquet fashioned from wrapper and napkins.
When her bus pulled up, it seemed to catch her by surprise. Her eyes got wide and she let out a "WHOOP!" flailed around not sure what to do with the napkins and remainder of her sandwich, finally deciding to bunch them up shove them under one of the nearby bushes and hightail it towards the bus.
Whoop!
~~~
The M3 pulled up and I found an empty seat. A 70-ish guy decided to sit next to me and gab away. He was pleasant enough but I wasn't in the mood. I pulled out my phone. I was only deleting messages, but I needed it to get some privacy. He looked around the bus and made the startling observation, "Everybody got a phone these days. Yep. Everybody got a phone."
~~~
At St. George's the driver ordered everyone off the bus. "Fire alarm," he said. Some passengers were indignant. "I didn't smell nothing," said one. Others insisted they didn't hear anything. One woman immediately got on her cell and found someone at home with whom she could bitch a blue streak about this inconvenience. "I fuckin hate this!" she said, "Just fuckin' hate it!" Didn't seem like there was any real problem, but they have their procedures. At least it was nice out.
~~~
I was lucky because this happened right in front of where my errand was. I took care of business, and, twenty minutes later, I came back out, and found the passengers still waiting. I went to cross the street, and the pleasant, gabby gentleman who sat with me on the way up pushed the light for me to cross. The girl with the potty mouth was nearby, and still cussing, though on another subject. "I fuckin' hate people, she said. "Just fuckin' hate them." The gentleman smiled at me, "Everybody got a phone," he noted again.
"Yeah," I said, crossing the street, "It's a wondrous thing."























copyright 2013 Deb Spilko