Concussions and Creeps

Location: The Square outside TBD

I sat on the bench outside because it was a nice day again. I was doing a crossword to pass the time until my bus arrived when someone sat down on my right. I looked up, and saw a bald man with an old head wound, lots of dried blood, and somewhat glassy eyes. He claimed he knew me, but I had never met nor seen this man before in my life. Every time someone walked past our bench, or within ten feet of it, he asked them if they had a cigarette to spare. The first person who walked past refused, and as he continued past, the man loudly proclaimed, "Fucking faggot!"

A child was chasing one of the thousands of pigeons around TBD with a stick, pretending he was some kind of hunter. The man next to me, rocking back and forth, said "Mark my words, that boy over there, he's gonna be trouble."

Another man, presumably of Native American descent, sat on my left. At this point, I notice that none of the other benches are close to full, except for mine. I have my phone out, checking my voicemail, when the man on my left, looking askance at me, says very slowly, "Nice phone there. You pay for that yourself? Looks expensive..." I replied that it was actually a pay-as-you-go plan. "Ah," he said, "But those are hard to keep up with, aren't they?" At this point, my bus pulled up behind me, so I very quickly packed up my belongings, stood up, and left both of these lunatics without looking back.

That's Ignorant

Location: The Bus Depot

A rail-thin woman in skinny jeans, a fitted jacket, and high heels walked into TBD to use the restroom. Unfortunately, and without notice, the restrooms were locked. She rammed into the door and, startled, exclaimed, "Oh my god, the bathrooms are locked! Where do they expect us to go, the water fountain? That's ignorant!" I was immediately lost and confused by the turn of phrase, but she continued unfazed. "Well, I guess you could use the garbage can, it would be less ignorant. But still gross." She then had a conversation with another female patron of TBD, discussing primarily her five (!) children, and how stupid it was for women to dress in scanty clothes in order to attract men, or just get by.

I Need to Go to The Knitting Store, to Fetch A Pail of Patterns

Location: The Bus

A woman on the bus offered, in exchange for a cigarette, to give any passenger who had one an unopened package of Post-It Notes, four cents, and her lighter.

Location: The Bus Depot

A woman with thinning hair in an overlarge transparent raincoat came into TBD, searched every vending machine and pay phone for leftover change while muttering to herself, then sat down next to a friend and began chatting about movie theaters. She ended up calling 411 to get connected to a movie theater to find out if the new Tyler Perry movie was playing there.

Quote of the Day: "Yeah, my daughter called me and told me she wanted me to knit her some of those mittens that are also gloves, yeah, because she texts on the phone, you see. Yeah, she wanted them to be purple, she told me so. Yeah, my daughter, she's 32, but she's still single."

Rainy Days feat. Electrical Tape and Pot

Location: The Bus

An older man with protruding eyes and an army jacket got on at the bus stop next to the psychiatric hospital. He took off his knit black hat and I could see he had thinning hair. He was wearing a black headband underneath of his hat, and he reeked of pot.

Location: The Bus Depot

A woman with a squeaky voice came into the depot. She had electrical tape X's on both of her cheeks, and she was on the phone with her brother's social worker, trying to find out when his court date was.

Quote of the Day: (on a cell phone) "You gave us a phone with no battery in it!"

The Bicycle Incident

Location: The Courtyard outside of The Bus Depot

I had to wait an extra hour for my bus to arrive today. It was sunny outside, and I didn't want to be trapped inside the Depot proper, so I sat on a park bench in the square. While I was there, the police arrived for three separate incidents.

One was a domestic dispute between husband and wife inside the bus depot. No arrests occurred.

A drunkard wandered about the square and harassed people until he was confronted by two police officers, patted down, and ultimately, arrested.

A man with a bright scarlet mohawk and a t-shirt wrapped around his neck was near the fountain with a group of about ten people. He was chilling out with his girlfriend and their little girl in a stroller, and a bicycle was leaning against the bench they were sitting on. I was playing Pokemon on my DS, so I wasn't paying much attention to what was going on around me, but I saw the police car pull up behind them, and saw the officer lazily stroll over to them. I wasn't close enough to hear what they were saying, but I saw the cop point at the bicycle, and the man with the mohawk shrugged. I kept trying to catch a Diglett or whatever, then I looked up again. The police officer had hauled the bicycle over to his car, popped his trunk, and was trying to stuff the whole bicycle into the trunk. It wouldn't close, so he wedged it in so it wouldn't fall out, and he drove away, up the steep hill to the police station. This was either a stolen bicycle, or the weirdest bribe I've ever seen.

Quote of the Day: "Fuckin' pigs, took my bike!"