Bus Report #326

Before I forget (as I have forgotten every day for the past few weeks):

Lately every time I walk past the donut shop I see the Alien Donut Man.
It makes me happy and fills me with relief, because when I don't see him, I worry.
He sits in his usual spot, in his blue and black parka (even last week when it was 97 degrees out) and slowly eats his donut and drinks his coffee.
One day, he had no choice but to sit at a different table, and he looked uncomfortable.
Poor guy.
Last night as I passed by, he lifted a paper napkin to his face, as if in slow-motion, and wiped his mouth. It was the most fluid movement I've ever seen from him.

Yesterday morning I was a few minutes late leaving for work, but it turned out to be a good thing.
The smiley driver pulled up and said, "It's been a while, how are you doing?"
She's just too sweet.

At Fillmore I waited with a couple other people for the bus.
When it stopped, the driver opened the door right in front of me and I got in.
Carmen was there in our usual spot.
She welcomed me with a smile and we immediately got caught up on everything.
Her co-worker, the woman who really ought to wear a belt, is on vacation for a few weeks.
Thank goodness, I couldn't help but think.

Last night I got home remarkably fast on the 33 Stanyan.
A man wearing a fedora sat next to me when I got in. We were in the rear facing seats.
I've noticed him before because he's not good at looking at you without staring.
You know what I mean.
There was a woman sitting in the back of the bus, kind of a wacky dresser, gold colored gladiator style sandals, a huge frame pack, a gorgeous bouquet of flowers.
"I like your shirt," she told my seat mate.
He replied, "I like your flowers."
They made small talk across a couple of people who looked like they were asleep.
Finally, he got up and went to sit next to her.
I lowered the volume on my headphones, so I could eavesdrop.
He was a new teacher, she worked at a food co-op.
They started talking about 'sacred spaces' and 'needing some space for me' and other new-agey subjects I got tired of years ago.
At one point she said, "So the poetry reading's at seven. I'm going to go home and like, be in my own space for a while, I'm sorry if you thought you could come home with me but I like, really need a little while to just rejuvenate myself."
He nodded, said, "Hey, that's no problem." He paused, and then, "Cause I need some space for myself too."
Oh, honey, I thought, you're trying too hard.
But then they got out at the same stop, so I guess it worked.