In 270 we trust

My bus

Colorful cast of characters
Old lady with full-blown black mustache
Middle-aged mom in the Brokeback cattle rancher’s jacket:
“Hi honey. Did you do your homework? Is your brother there? What time is your game tomorrow? No, we’re not going out to eat tonight. We’re having leftovers. Yes, the nasty spaghetti. Well too bad. That’s what we’re having. What? I’m cutting out. Gotta go.”
Annoying (yet friendly) loud girl with no concept of bus-level volume control
Jenny, the pretty blonde with piercing blue eyes who is always smiling, always laughing
The greasy guy in the worn leather jacket who stares out the window, absent-mindedly twisting his wedding band around and around his finger, his face blank and expressionless
The chic with the unflattering too-short haircut who once snapped at another passenger, “I don’t care if she’s driving slow. The roads are icy. Do you want to get there ALIVE?”
The skinny woman with the hairy knees
Most of us have little in common beyond the fact that we work downtown, we ride the same bus, we live near Maplewood
iPads, iPhones, iPods
Texting, reading, dozing
Relaxing
Too hot
Too cold
Too stuffy
What is that smell?!
One time I sat in the seat across from a little girl who was crying and crying (while her mom ignored her) and then puked all over. Her mom didn't try to clean it up. And there it sat.
Once I sat by either a coke head or someone who should be medicated for ADHD
During our 30 minute ride together, she clipped coupons, brushed her hair, read the newspaper, made a grocery list, filed her fingernails, and frantically searched in her massive red bag for a cough drop, a piece of gum, her bus pass, her hands shaking like a leaf
Another time I sat by a drunk bum who slurred profanities during the entire ride (no wonder why that seat was empty)
A new bus driver every three months
The Middle Eastern dude who used to drive ridiculously fast down the exit ramps
The chubby lady with a terrible case of rosacia who is too scared to drive on the shoulder of the road
The nervous woman who once hit a car during a snowstorm and didn’t realize what she had done until another bus driver passed us, screaming out her window “YOU HIT THAT LADY’S CAR BACK THERE!”
The soft-spoken black woman who kept apologizing when the bus broke down near the 35W/36 interchange
Russ, the bus driver everyone seems to know by name, a happy-go-lucky guy who works part-time as a clown
The grey-bearded grandfatherly gentleman from Russia with the kind eyes and warm smile
We all have one goal in the morning: Make it to Minneapolis on time for work
In the evening we just want to get home to our loved ones.