I rode my motorcycle most of the week, except on Thursday when my wife was kind enough to chauffeur me to the office during the morning monsoon - though I am sure that having no power in the house had something to do with her decision. On Friday, though, I got to ride the train. It was nice to have a little bit of normalcy in an otherwise out of control week and it's even nicer to visit with you all and share my experience.
Even though I needed it, I didn't take my mountain bike to do my normal long ride home on Friday. I just took my folding bike instead, and I actually got a seat. I'll admit that since I had no power I did leave a little earlier than normal, so I took the 6:45 train instead of the 7:10. While it was nice to have a seat, I was a little disturbed when this woman sat next to me 2 stops into the ride.
I'm sure that most of you who know me are aware that I used to be a smoker. I happily puffed away for almost 18 years, and finally quit for good when my daughter was born. I must admit that when I smoked I was blissfully unaware of how much I stank; now, especially after having this woman sit next to me, I know exactly how much I stank. I do like to think though that my breath was a touch better. I don't know what you have to eat to have breath as bad as hers - breath so bad that at times it overpowers the reek of stale cigarette smoke that surrounds you like a cloud. I wanted to breathe through my mouth, but I really didn't think it'd be too much better to eat her odor instead of just smelling it.
Thankfully, I was a little distracted from the noxious cloud next to me by this guy getting on the train - not the guy in the khaki shorts, but the guy with the nice white high tops and shorts that really aren't. If you notice, against the wall is a large old school boombox, jambox, or ghetto blaster, whatever you wish to call it. The kid in the white sneakers and almost pants got on the train carrying his sound system with him (thankfully not on, as I'm pretty sure our tastes would not be the same) and since he was too cool for school, he just stopped in the middle of the entrance.
However, he wasn't the last person trying to get in that door. He just decided that he was going to stand in the doorway (as we have discussed here before) and stopped getting on. There were two people behind him, and in the true doorway stander tradition, they became the jerks who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was not moving, so both had to physically push past him and his silly radio in order to get on the car. Keep in mind that while you see people standing around him, there were still several seats available on the train when he was boarding, and that the people pushing past him found seats immedately and sat down.
On the afternoon ride home, however, there were no seats open - I caught the 4:30 train, and that one fills up pretty quickly. Well, I say no seats were available, but there was one that was not being used fully.
This woman feigned sleep from Citiplace station until we reached Galatyn Park station in Richardson. Looks comfy, doesn't she? I had a seat for part of the ride, but I gave it up when this woman got on.
I don't know if she was pregnant or just portly, but it was very obvious that she wanted to sit down - she kept gazing longingly down the car at all of us lucky folks who were able to take a load off on the way home. I waited for a minute to see if Sleeping Beauty would put her feet on the floor where they belonged so that this woman could take a seat. She did not. I hopped up and gave her my seat, bumping the sleeping woman's feet purposely as I walked by. She did not move. I know that if she was sleeping, my bump would have certainly awakened her, so I know that she was faking, and that she was just more important than anyone else.
I wish I was that important - I might be able to get my electricity turned back on.
No comments:
Post a Comment