BUS STORY # 443 (Clueless)

Downloaded from Leaving Tracks

We pull up to a stop, and I see a not-all-that-old guy with a walker and a large plastic bag of groceries.

There are three people in the front of the bus: a woman sitting in the first forward-facing bench seat on the passenger side, right in front of me; a young woman, in a black velvet hat with a large scarf hatband, short hair curling up from beneath the brim, sitting in the bench seat behind the driver; a young guy, T-shirt and jeans, white earbud in his left ear, holding a large black case the size of a big, three-ring binder on his lap, sitting in the bench seat opposite the woman in the hat.

The woman sitting in front of me sees the guy with the walker and gets up and heads further back.

The woman in the hat also sees the guy with the walker, and after the woman in front of me goes to the back, she also gets up and moves to the back.

The guy, who cannot see the guy with the walker unless he turns around to see why the women are moving -- and he doesn’t -- watches the two women leave. He remains where he is.

The driver kneels the bus, and the guy with the walker struggles aboard with his walker and groceries.

He is grimacing with the effort, and when he gets past the till, the aisle is partially blocked by the legs of the man on the bench seat.

Who is watching but doesn’t move.

The man with the walker manages to negotiate the obstruction, but almost loses his balance when he tries putting his groceries on the bench seat with his walker turned at an odd angle to accommodate the legs of the guy on the bench seat.

He recovers, reorients himself, maneuvers the walker as close as he can given the room he has to a position that will help him sit down.

The walker is partially collapsable, and, after sitting down, he does something I don’t recall having seen someone with a walker do before. He folds it up, then pulls it up on top of his lap and holds it with both hands so that it does not form an obstruction in the aisle.

He grimaces with the effort, smiles in between the grimaces.

The guy across the aisle watches, as do I.