BUS STORY # 272 (Shorts 22)

Dry Heat, a photo by busboy4 on Flickr.

I’m sitting in the bench seat by the front door, across from the driver. We pull over at a stop, the door opens, and I hear this guy ask, “Can I bring this on?” The driver pauses, then says, “As long as you don’t block the aisle.” A kid boards with a salvage-looking automobile wheel, complete with worn tire. He finds a pair of empty seats and they sit together, side by side.

***

Ralph* and I are on the 50 watching a large stream of boarders crossing the street from Project Share to the bus stop. The line is about fully boarded when a lone guy hobbling on a crutch starts across the road. We’re wondering if the driver is gonna wait for him. The guy must have started worrying about that, too, because he suddenly picks up his crutch and runs over to the bus before the doors close.

***

This reminds Ralph of another story -- same bus, same stop. There’s a woman in a wheelchair waiting with the others. The lift goes down, she gets lifted on board, wheeled into place, and her chair locked down by the driver. Then everybody else starts to board. One of the boarders looks over at her, addresses her by name, and asks her what she’s doing in the wheelchair. She answers she just didn’t feel like walking today.

***

For reasons unknown, we change buses at the Yale Transit Facility. The new bus pulls back out in the street, and a rider calls out to the driver, “Hey, there’s water dripping from the ceiling.” The driver explains they just finished washing the bus. “But it’s getting the seat wet,” the rider persists. “Yeah,” replies the driver, “but this is New Mexico. It’s a dry wet.” 

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 *Real name changed.