Bus Report #611

The 22 was on time but already getting full. I asked a kid who had her backpack on the window seat if I could sit down, and though it killed her to do it, she heaved her bag onto the floor to make room for me to sit.
The second my body made contact with the seat, the seat felt a little damp and a little sticky. I hoped it was just from the bag being out in the rain earlier. I decided to wash all my clothes when I got home anyway, just in case.
I got a new seatmate at Mission - a man dressed head to toe in the same color denim. Denim porkpie hat, denim jacket, matching jeans. Quite the look.
I caught the 38 at Geary and Fillmore and sat in the back, right near the accordion fold.
There was a woman sitting in one of the seats in the accordion, a sleeping 3 or 4 year old next to her and her 2 year old little guy strapped to her chest, also sleeping.
Right before her stop, she started shaking the older boy awake. She roughly pushed him to his feet, but he was still so sleepy he didn't know what was going on, and he fell forward, his face hitting the floor right in front of the woman sitting across from him.
Those of us in the back of the bus gasped collectively as the woman sitting across from the family picked up the little boy and stroked his hand, telling him he was okay even as he began to cry in that silent way that always seems to signal intense pain.
His mother passed her hand over his face. She grabbed his hand and made him hold on to the pole. He started to climb up into the seat again but she didn't let him, insisting he stand and wait for the bus to stop.
Everyone's eyes followed her as she led him off the bus.
He's going to have a hell of a bruise in the morning.