BUS STORY # 292 (Shorts 24)

Waiting for the Bus, a photo by DWinton on Flickr.

I’m waiting for the Rapid at The Frontier when a woman on a single crutch approaches me. “Sir, would you like to buy a brand new leather jacket so I can pay for antibiotics for my leg?” She’s as tall as I am, a bit thinner, and she is wearing a black leather jacket that looks brand new. Straight off the rack, I’d say. I think it just might fit me, too, but I decline her offer.

***

Overheard on the 50:
“It’s really cold this morning.”
“It’s not all that cold.”
“Sure is. I froze my butt off this morning.”
“Last week was colder.”
“Couldn’t have been”.
“Why not?”
“I didn’t freeze my butt off last week.”

***

The kid’s probably 12. Long hair, hoodie, skateboard. He’s got two dollars, and he’s having trouble putting the first bill in the till. The driver asks him how many times he’s gonna ride the bus today. Three. Well, then, the driver tells him, it’d be cheaper to just pay 35 cents for each ride than buy the two-dollar day pass. He’d save nearly a dollar. The kid pauses, then returns to working the till. He finally gets the bill in, and the second, and takes his day pass. The driver just shakes his head.

***

Young guy and I are shooting the breeze at the bus stop. He tells me he’s in a good mood because tomorrow’s pay day. He gets paid once a week. I reply it’s Monday, and ask if he really gets paid every Tuesday. He does. His boss pays them every Tuesday instead of every Friday because he thinks there’s a greater chance they’ll go home Tuesday night and pay their bills than if they got paid on Friday and went out partying. I ask him if that really works. Pretty well, he tells me.
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The photo at the top of this story is titled “Waiting for the Bus,” and is posted with the kind permission of DWinton. You can see all DWinton’s’s photos on Flickr at: DWinton's photostream.