Sunday, October 01, 2006

Public Transportation

I like to take the 7:03 a.m. bus on Rte. 17. It usually hits my stop between 7:10 and 7:15. It's nice, quiet and not crowded at all, giving me a seat by myself. This week, however, it was unusually full. On Friday morning it was standing room only although I was lucky enough to snag the only open seat right behind the bus driver. As we pulled up to a stop just in the downtown core area, this woman got on the back of the bus at the second entrance (it was one of those long buses) and started screaming "I've been stabbed. That man stabbed me! Bus driver call the police!" Because I was at the front of the bus, I couldn't see all the commotion going on at the back. I could see part of her as she stood on the steps of the bus and she looked a little disheveled. As she continued screaming, people from the back of the bus began streaming out of the front of the bus. I couldn't get up because of all the people and I still couldn't see what was going on as she continued screaming. What did freak me out was the look on many of the women's faces as they ran towards the front of the bus. Finally the woman jumped off the bus and took off with some man following her. Another man who had been sitting at the back of the bus got back on and wanted to know if the bus driver was going to continue on the route. She said no because she was calling the cops and had to wait for them. He replied to that with a loud "F&^% You!" and stormed off the bus. At this point I think, it's time to get off the bus. So I did and started the 20 minute walk to work from that part of downtown. As I walked along 4th Ave. I saw the woman. She was standing with 2 police officers and an ambulance and two fire aide vehicles were racing down the street towards her. I called Rebecca to tell her about my morning adventure (all before 8 a.m.) and we had a good laugh. Later that evening, Rebecca called me back to tell me that the man who yelled at the bus driver was her coworker! It just makes me laugh about what a small world this is and the joys of public transportation.
P.S. Rebecca's coworker saw the entire thing and said the man didn't stab her, it was only a paper cut.

1 comment:

Shawn S. said...

Wow! DC public transit is so tame! We do get the occasional "slightly off" person who hasn't bathed for days, but no paper cuts turned into stabbings. Gee, Megs, you know how to have all the fun!!!