Busology

I went to Philly this past weekend, and that means almost 5 hours of net total bus-sitting experiences! On Friday afternoon, I got to the bus station marked by a group of luggaged people looking confused and lost. I was just in time to be yelled at by the bus lady to take my seat. I hurried to the back stepping past the grunge crowd, the preppy white kids, the militants in fatigues and the weird bald guy. I was looking forward to disappearing into my book for the next two and half hours, but instead I find a big, red schoolbag rudely squeezed in front of my window seat. Now the metro has drummed into my brain that an unattended bag was in fact, a bomb and that if I don't report it I will die. But despite this, I hesitated. I didn't wanna be that one paranoid, Indian girl. But my desire to live through my bus trip was stronger. So reluctantly, I tapped the bus lady on her arm and told her about the bag. She followed me back only to bark, "yeah, it's okay" and rush up to the driver again. "But I don't want it on the bus," I protested meekly to her back. I was ignored by all present. I tried to act all indignant about the situation, but couldn't pull it off. I slinked back to my seat, and tried to position myself away from the bomb/bag.

Now on the way from Philly to DC, it was dark, so for entertainment I had to rely on my music. All I need in life is books and music. But I digress. I was also entertained by these two couples--startlingly good-looking, Hispanic people--who all got drunk and accused each other of being "fake" and "disrespectful" in rapid-fire Spanish sprinkled with English. There was Carlos and Lisa (couple #1), and then there was Moses and Girl#2 (couple 2). Moses was the one who stood up, piss drunk, pointed at us and said, "i'm not trying to put on a show. But this bitch needs to shut up and stop being fake". Girl #2 would intermittently laugh hysterically at Moses (who glowered at her) or sob heavily leaning on Carlos and asking him to help her. When the bus neared home, Moses turned to me and asked if we were in DC. I nodded my head and said, "yeah we are" to which he thanked me gravely. I wanted to add something more helpful like, "we will soon be in Chinatown" but didn't since it sounded stupid in my head. As I got off the bus, I noticed how many stares they were getting from everyone and I realized that they were embarrassed. I felt kinda bad for them, I am not exactly sure why.