Thursday, June 19, 2008

The People On the Bus

Its official, I have become a regular on the bus - at least I feel so. I can now recognize other people and know where they get on and off at. I know who likes to sit where, etc.

But there are still things that happen that surprise me.

Like today.

I usually like to sit in the seat towards the front where the rows start that is only two seats wide. I use one seat to hold my tote, lunchbox and purse and the other to sit in. This usually works out in when I ride the 8 o'clock bus because it isn't usually terribly busy and I don't have to cram all my stuff on my lap and try to read at the same time - arg the awful balancing act!

But with gas prices rising, ridership keeps going up and up and I have to give up my extra seat about half way downtown.

Today a very nervous young man sat next to me.

He kept wringing his hands and popping his knuckles (something I hate!). He would cross his arms for a bit and then stretch his arms out in front of him - and then start wringing and popping his knuckles again. Over and over!

I came THIS close to leaning over and telling him P-L-E-A-S-E S-T-O-P T-H-A-T, but figured it would only make him pee his pants or something.

So I kept reading and as my stop approached I put my book away and arranged my trio of bags for bus departure.

Then I think I figured out why he was so nervous - it was me. I was freaking him out. He wanted to talk to me and it took him the whole trip to summon the nerve. :)

As I was getting myself all situated he asked about my book, said I read fast, asked how many pages I read - I could barely understand him he was talking so quietly - but my stop was approaching - which made it seem like I was just getting off the bus to get away from him - poor nervous guy. LOL.

People on the bus surprise me. Here I am thinking he is some sort of weirdo who can't sit still and the whole time he is just trying to be nice and come up with something to talk about. Makes you realize how much you wrongly judge people.

I prefer to always stay on my guard though - you just never know.

2 comments:

Sherry at the Zoo said...

How sweet! Was he disappointed to learn you are married?

Stacy said...

We didn't get that far into a conversation...not even sure if he was trying to flirt or just be nice - he literally had 10 seconds before I got off the bus. Who knows!