This Reminds Me

Keith and I are now bus riders.  We are They Who Ride the Bus.

I would like to say we are riding the VIA bus 20 mi. downtown every morning because the idea occured to us in a flash of environmental brilliance at our last “Save The Whales*” conference, or when we huddled around a campfire, whining “Kumbaya” with the Sierra Club.  Alas, our motivations are economic.  We’re saving $40/month in parking, $6 – $9 daily in gasoline plus vehicle depreciation – all for the cost of two $20 bus passes we can buy with pre-tax dollars, plus, of course, we’re throwing in a bucket of flexibility.

All Aboard the #6 Express At O’Dark:30

Rachel – never one to confuse frugality with fashion – sniffed to a group of her church friends that her parents rode the bus, “just like ghetto people.”

While we joggle down 281 toward the mighty McCullough towers, I mostly read novels, or sleep, or listen to my Rio.  Keith mostly huddles behind the paper, shuffles through work stuff, or – if he doesn’t have something interesting to peruse - tries to keep me from reading.

We’ve ridden for about two months, and I’m now branding many of our fellow passengers.  There’s “Bosomy Blonde Woman with the Starbucks” who always boards before us.  She’s generally across from “Hospital Worker with Blue Sweater Who Sleeps.”   Always sitting ramrod straight by the back door, there’s “Secretary with Hair Bun and Tote Bag.”  Lately we’ve been enjoying – or at least hearing – the rather loud one-way conversations of “Mr. Grew Up in San Antonio And Knows Everything About Everything.”

So I wonder – how would our fellow riders brand Keith?  “Wookie With the Paper?”  Or, “AT&T Man Who Mumbles Over Drawings?”  And what about me?  “Gray Woman Dragging Jingly Laptop Bag?”  Or, “Crazy Woman Who Audibly Corrects Billboard Grammar?”

I dunno.  But since I wear a cross around my neck most days, maybe I should think about that.   I’m supposed to be Jesus with skin on.   What would Jesus ride?  I think he might ride VIA, too.  But he wouldn’t hog the seat next to him with his purse and he wouldn’t silently curse at the Quarry slowdown.

Gabriel the Angelic Afternoon Driver Says, “Move on Back”

The wheels on the bus go round and round.  The baby on the bus says “Wah wah wah.”  The mommy on the bus says “Shhh sshhh sshhh.”  The horn on the bus goes “beep beep beep.”  And however you get to work – have a safe safe week.

*  We are trying to save the whales, though.  We want to collect the whole set.