Bus Report #279
Last night I took the bus home from the Mission with KT. We had very good bus luck: two minutes at the bus stop, and a 22 Fillmore pulled up. The driver stopped right in front of us. He didn't say anything about the messy ice creams we had with us. We got seats in the back of the bus.
At Geary it was the same thing... The 38 pulled in to the stop within a minute or two of us getting there.
A homeless woman with a cart full of stuff was sitting in the bus shelter. "It raining yet?" she asked me.
"Not yet," I told her.
From start to finish, I was home in 40 minutes.
Today I left work early so I could go home before my office holiday party. I got a good window seat on the 22. I put on my headphones and zoned out.
A woman got on at Potrero and sat next to me. Almost immediately, she started talking to me. At first I just kind of nodded and smiled and tried to ignore her, still listening to NPR. She kept talking. Finally I took off my headphones and we had a short conversation (well, she talked, I listened) that covered a lot of ground.
Her name was Leticia. She had walked from 28th St. to 16th to catch the bus. She was en route to her sister's house, where she would be paid for light housework. She uses salt and baking soda and bleach to get the dishes extra clean. Her cell phone battery was dead. She lived in the half-way house for recovering addicts. Her kids lived with her mother, and they were both very smart. She and her boyfriend had just had a massive fight, about his drinking, and she didn't care, she was just going to go to her sisters, then get the phone fixed, and planned to pay the boyfriend no mind. She was looking for work, and was I hiring? No matter. She had faith in god that he had a plan for her. She would be all right.
Before her stop, she asked me if I could pull the signaler. Of course I could.
"Well, its been nice talking to you miss," she said. She offered me her hand. "My name's Leticia."
I shook her hand. "Rachel," I said.
At Geary it was the same thing... The 38 pulled in to the stop within a minute or two of us getting there.
A homeless woman with a cart full of stuff was sitting in the bus shelter. "It raining yet?" she asked me.
"Not yet," I told her.
From start to finish, I was home in 40 minutes.
Today I left work early so I could go home before my office holiday party. I got a good window seat on the 22. I put on my headphones and zoned out.
A woman got on at Potrero and sat next to me. Almost immediately, she started talking to me. At first I just kind of nodded and smiled and tried to ignore her, still listening to NPR. She kept talking. Finally I took off my headphones and we had a short conversation (well, she talked, I listened) that covered a lot of ground.
Her name was Leticia. She had walked from 28th St. to 16th to catch the bus. She was en route to her sister's house, where she would be paid for light housework. She uses salt and baking soda and bleach to get the dishes extra clean. Her cell phone battery was dead. She lived in the half-way house for recovering addicts. Her kids lived with her mother, and they were both very smart. She and her boyfriend had just had a massive fight, about his drinking, and she didn't care, she was just going to go to her sisters, then get the phone fixed, and planned to pay the boyfriend no mind. She was looking for work, and was I hiring? No matter. She had faith in god that he had a plan for her. She would be all right.
Before her stop, she asked me if I could pull the signaler. Of course I could.
"Well, its been nice talking to you miss," she said. She offered me her hand. "My name's Leticia."
I shook her hand. "Rachel," I said.
posted by Rachel at 5:21 PM
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