Friday, October 17, 2008

Skate or bus, dude!


Today almost all of my senses are being harassed on the bus. My sight is harassed by another dose of teens wearing bad, gothic-confused fashion; my hearing is harassed by something that sounds like an annoying ring tone or video game that goes off every 2-5 minutes; my touch is harassed by the man behind me coughing in my hair, and my smell is harassed by what my smell is usually harassed by -- everything. Tho this kind of stuff which occurs regularly may contribute to my poor attitude at the bus stop, I don't think it was the main reason for my sinister behavior at the bus stop today. When I arrived at the bus stop, I wasn't there five minutes before tween rocker Rainbow Brite rolled up on a skateboard with younger brother in tow on his board. They nearly rolled right into me as they went towards the bench, but I dismissed it and casually sauntered away. This toothpick tween had an ugly scowl on her face to match her bad Pat Benatar, over-dyed hairstyle; she was sporting the skinny pants with big, bright pink Converse, and she had layered shirts with rainbow strings hanging off the back. The best was her nametag, laden with stars: Izzy. Right. So. I try to be the big person that I am, and not give a sense that I am paying any attention to these two at all, while "Izzy" is desperately trying to give a sense to anyone around that she's pretty hard core. Next thing I know, she gets back on her board and does a half-moon right around me, almost jamming into my heels this time. Then she hops up onto the abandoned "Road Work Ahead" sign that's been sitting at my bus stop for months, and I delight in the fact that she loses her balance and falls off backwards (don't worry, she caught herself...I'm not that mean). I think from embarrassment, she darts back toward her little bro and they continue skating around. Meanwhile the 128 bus is approaching, and the driver slows but doesn't begin to pull over because he knows by now I always shake my head for him to pass. Well, you wouldn't know the two kids were actually waiting for this bus because they're still skating around, but tweener must've noticed at the last second so she lunges right in front of me, saying "No wait!"...just as my head begins its first turn to the left (picture it in slow mo). At that same second, bus driver gets a slight glimpse of my half-shaken head and he puts the pedal to the medal. "F**ING A!!!!" is the next thing I hear from tween queen as she stomps her foot in disapproval. I can't help but give an evil little "not-my-problem" smirk, as she huffs away. I had a teeny tiny pinch of guilt, but then again it really wasn't my fault she was too busy falling off skateboards to notice the bus coming. And how am I to know that's the bus she needed? The guilt melts away as I think: A brat's a brat, and that's that.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is that going to be your Halloween outfit?

Anonymous said...

Whew... I wasn't sure where this story was going. Thought maybe she accidently skated out in front of the bus and the rest was history.