On the bus

As I was coming home on the 14 bus the other day, a man with a strange glint in his eye invited me to a party this Sunday at a church downtown. He was sure that I'd get along with so-and-so, and so I must come. I gave the requisite polite eye-contact while, largely, letting him speak at length about this must-be-attended event. When there was a break in his monologue, I whispered a "thank you" and averted my eyes. I had survived the uncomfortable bus talk that can sometimes happen when people who are slightly unhinged happen to be sitting near you. I few blocks later, he began an even greater oration directed at all the back-of-the-bus passengers about the church party, and, incidentally(?), about his former life in showbiz and subsequent downward spiral into drug use and general nuttiness. One block later I was off the bus and walking, unmolested, toward my building. To be fair, this sort of behavior is tame compared to what one sometimes experiences on the 14. I consider myself and the other passengers lucky.