The snow just kept coming down. Thick and heavy, it was really starting to slow me down. It was late in the evening, and I had just left Campus Station, heading down the hill to Lee's Station. As I entered the station, I could see two passengers waiting for the bus. One was a guy around 35 or 40 years old with really long wavy blonde hair, and one was an oriental woman about 10 years younger. I couldn't help but notice a look of slight disorientation on her face, which is sometimes evident on new arrivals in the country. I'm sure I had worn the same expression myself a time or two in my travels to other countries and cultures. I slowly pulled up and eased the bus into the curb. Just as I was opening the door, the guy reached down and picked something up from the ground, handing it to the oriental woman.
"Excuse me ma'am." he said politely. "You dropped your fucking bus pass." I stifled a laugh as he continued. "Yeah it was right there in the fucking snow." he added.
The look on her face was classic. I could see the wheels turning in her head as she tried to make sense of what was happening. She seemed to be thinking, "He's being very nice, but isn't he swearing at me?" By now I am doubled over the steering wheel laughing as quietly as I can under the circumstances. They both got on the bus, and once I recovered somewhat, we continued on our way. This was my first meeting with one of the local "characters". He seemed like a good soul who had just done too many drugs or drank too much booze, and who had lost some of his social graces somewhere along the way. His heart seemed in the right place though....
A few months later, I encountered him again. I was driving the #5 in the Glebe, and he got on the bus and sat about halfway back, and immediately started loudly playing drums with his hands on the back of the seat in front of him. I gave him a a short time to get it out of his system. It didn't work. I looked up and caught his eye in the mirror. "Hey bud. Give us a break, will ya?" I asked.
"What? You don't like drumming?" he replied.
"Well don't quit your day job." I said sarcastically.
At this he jumped out of his seat and started almost running up the aisle towards me, reaching into his coat as he came.
"I was a passenger, but now I'm dirty Harry!" he yelled.
"Jesus Christ. He's going to pull a gun on me!" I thought, in shock at this unexpected turn of events. Just as this was happening, I was arriving at a red light at Bank St. As I stopped, he arrived at my side.
"Where are we?" he said, looking out the windshield.
"Umm...Bank and Glebe." I said, trying to see his hands and what if anything was in them.
"Oh, okay. This is my stop." he said, smiling as he walked out the door.
I let out a long breath, and continued on my way as my heart rate returned to normal, amazed as always at the unpredictable and entertaining nature of this job....
