I ran all the way from Broadway and Olive to what I thought was Olive and Terry in my sunday best to catch the #41 sunday night. Olive and Terry wasn't where i thought it was, so I plopped down to wait for the #66.
The bus was packed when it arrived, so I tried to determine who had both a remaining seat near them and had taken a bath this week. I made a lucky choice, no smell, but as soon as I sat down I couldn't breathe. 'Why is it so hot? Must be because I ran all the way down here and I'm wearing 5 tops and 4 bottoms. Everyone else must be comfortable.'
The 66 wound through eastlake, Udist, Ravenna. Bodies started to empty out and I caught my breath and still, so hot. 'If I pretend I'm in a sauna, it'll be pleasant. yeah. Pretend this was some kind of choice.'
Shoreline, Northgate. There is a guy sitting next to me and another one across from me. Across from me is glancing for my eye now and again. Guy next to me pipes up, "Driver, it must be 85 degrees back here, can we please turn the heat down?"
I turn to him and mouth the words 'Thank. You.'
"Thats a funny thing I've noticed about the northwest," he says, "Everyone will be uncomfortable or know something is wrong, but no one will say anything for fear of making someone else uncomfortable. It's like everybody thinks: 'Well, it's not my bus.'"
"You're right. Nobody wants to make a scene, better to be personally uncomfortable and secretly pissed about it."
"It's not like that on the East Coast at all. People are like: "This is MY damn bus."
"I know, 'MY personal line at the airport.' And they make their wants known."
His conversation comes easy, and I can see the guy across from me is totally pissed off in a very 'where does that guy get off, being witty and easy going? jerk.' kind of way.
Guy next to me makes a joke and it's decently funny. I wonder if he's going to ask for my number, or if he's one of those married guys who likes to flirt with women because there's really nothing at stake for them.
He leans over and says "You have the whitest skin I've ever seen. It's really beautiful. You're going to be young forever."
"Um, well...Thank you. That's very sweet of you."
I get this a lot. It's a nice, but kind of weird 'howsabout you birth me an aryan baby?' sort of compliment. He sort of leaned over for a second before my phone rang.
"Excuse me, please. Hello, Mom? I'm about 5 minutes away. Did you find it alright? Good, good. Just stay put and I'll be right there."
I pulled the chain and exited the bus. He was handsome and nice, and Cake and I have an agreement about tucking opportunity in your back pocket for later. There's just something about little bits of unresolved intrigue that makes me feel like I'm still a mystery to somebody. There's a whole world out there waiting to tell me it's favorite color and sing me it's High School pep song.
Posted by Sonya at December 7, 2004 11:40 AMAmen.
Posted by: tiny at December 7, 2004 09:42 PMInsanely jealous that you get complimented on your white skin. I get squinty eyed looks and, "so...allergic to sun, or something?"
Posted by: Anne at December 8, 2004 01:16 PMEvery time I walk by the new Aveda place on 10th, across from Freehold, I look at the big poster in the window with the incredibly pale-skinned blonde haired woman and think to myself, "Did Sonya do one of those stock photo shoots and Aveda bought one of the shots not knowing she only lives a few blocks away?"
It really does look a lot like you -- which is intriguing, because it means there's someone else out there in the world with equally transluscent porcelin skin, short-cropped peroxided hair and bright red lips.
But, it's only a headshot, so it's entirely possible she's alergic to crinoline and hates pastel colors, in which case you would have almost nothing in common.
Posted by: KING COMTE I at December 8, 2004 05:52 PMthe monkey loves that about the east coast, nyc in particular. he says it forces him to ask for what he needs, and breeds some kind of boldness in him that's still wanting.
i dunno. mostly it feels like there's just a great deal of yelling. even if it borders on passive agressive like everyone says, i still like the PNW way better.
Posted by: louella at December 9, 2004 10:34 AM