Saturday, January 26, 2008

the secret grown ups

Now that I'm back to work (with the mysterious phone and everything) I have to figure out how to get there every morning. My office is within walking distance, but if I walk farther than five blocks, my left leg will fall off and I'll fall over sideways. And I'll be damned if I'm going to keep feeding my money to the cab company, which is what I did for most of 2007.

I discovered a bus stop half a block from my front door that connects me to another stop only a block from my office. This I something I can get behind. I don't care if the number 12 takes me downtown and the number 10 takes me back home, even if that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. Not only do I have to hear about it, I have to live the stupidity every day. The 12 and the 10 follow identical paths; why do they have different numbers? Why? I bet that not even the transit company knows. They probably drew up the route plans, discovered their stupidity and left it there, out of sheer mortal embarrassment.

Anyway.

On Thursday I got to listen to a conversation between a teenage boy and girl. Bear in mind that the entire conversation was held in earnest.

Girl: I really like the new guy.
Boy: Yeah?
Girl: Most guys don't want to date me when they find out I've got a kid. They don't want to deal with it.
Boy: They probably don't expect you to have a kid.
Girl: This guy is really cool about my kid.
Boy: Do your parents worry about you dating?
Girl: No, they let me do what I want. They treat me like a grown-up.
Boy: But you're not.
Girl: I am. Secretly I am. I'm a mom.
Girl: And I turn sixteen next month, so I can have my license.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sweet merciful Christ. These kids today and their wanting to drive.

Anonymous said...

That is terrifying. What is the world coming to?

The kids are scary too.

Theresa said...

Good on you. Getting back to work. Don't forget your oath. To squeeze a mention of the Yukon Quest into a political speech. Please?

Plus! I heard a reporter on US television mention a media scrum the other day. Great word.

Bruce Johnson said...

The bus has been one of my biggest inspirations for story ideas and the quirks of life. Folks that don't ride it don't know what they are missing out on.

Some of my observations

Abigail Road said...

I hate the 10 and the 12. I took them for years out to work, and they are bloody useless. They stop going anywhere other than their circle around downtown at 8pm, just following each other around. If you ask me, it's a horrible waste of natural gas.

Deron said...

If you ask me nicely, I won't pick you up for work. Instead I'll drive by laughing as you sit in the gutter weeping over your miserable existence.

trinity67 said...

This conversation bothers me because it reminds me of how clueless I was at that age. My God.

palinode said...

cansandjars - I know. Next they'll be wanting operate heavy machinery.

amy - The world is coming to a fiery end. Which will be nice, because this weather sucks.

theresa - Thanks for the Yukon Quest reminder. I'll let you know when it happens.

lotus07 - There's a great Jonathan Richman about the pleasures of riding on the bus. I think it's called "You're Crazy For Taking The Bus".

abigail - They should put those buses in an arena and let them fight it out.

deron - A ride to work, you say? Intriguing. My miserable existence, hmmm? Yeah.

trinity67 - It's sometimes pretty horrifying when you think about it.