BUS STORY # 104 (Ho Ho)

Folks have just boarded the outbound Rapid Ride at the station by Presbyterian Hospital. I hear this conversation begin behind me.

Girl: “Hey, Beto,* is that you?”

Guy: “Yeah. I’m ridin’ the bus.”

“Where you goin’?”

“I’m goin’ to beat up my ex’s new boyfriend at Ho Ho’s [a Chinese take-out on Central]. You oughta come.”

“When you gonna leave that girl alone?”

“Hey, she disrespected me, man. She disrespected me.”

“You disrespected yourself.”

“C’mon, Lee Ann.* You still got your video camera?”

“I left it at my dad’s house.”

“Where’s he at?”

“Nowhere near Ho Ho’s.”

“You oughta get your video camera and come to Ho Ho’s.”

“Yeah, I oughta get a movie of you gettin’ your ass kicked.”

“Ain’t nobody gonna kick my ass.”

“Uh-huh.”

The conversation continues in this vein until the bus pulls into the station at the Frontier. Ho Ho is a couple of blocks west.

“Hey, Lee Ann, you gonna come to Ho Ho’s with us?”

“Yeah, I wanna see this.”

The young couple in front of me is sitting in the seats facing the aisle. The girl has been looking past me and watching this conversation with raised, tattooed eyebrows. As folks in the back are exiting, she nudges the guy beside her. He’s sporting a baseball cap with a straight brim pointing semi-sideways. He’s been keeping his eyes to himself. 

“Hey, we oughta go to Ho Ho’s. C’mon.” 

The guy looks reluctant.

“C’mon,” she urges again, and gets up, looking anxious about the door closing. 

He gets up and they exit. The bus heads for Nob Hill.

__________

*Real name changed.