Bus Report #81

There was a fire in the Mission early this morning. It left 64 people homeless and several people injured.
By the time my commute brought me down there, the fire was out. The only signs that there had been anything going on were a large ladder on a fire truck, the smell of smoke hanging in the air, and the buses were rerouted along 17th Street.
Several people on my bus grew suddenly alert and panicked when the bus did not turn. The rest of us took it in stride, though.
I leaned against the window and watched the new scenery. Elliott Smith sang beautiful whispery songs on my Discman.
On 17th Street the bus wires had nowhere to go, so we quietly glided down the street with the electric poles tucked down on top of the bus. We passed two 22s going in the other direction. Their poles were flat down as well. I thought: these buses are slinking around. That's how it looked to me.
We cut up Guerrero, past D.S.'s old apartment near the 500 Club. Past the Tattoo parlor, the old church, the corner where the cop got killed in the car crash and the Boys and Girl's Club.
At Guerrero and 16th our driver got out to realign the poles. He was wearing purple gloves.