During
the rest of the year, I’ve pretty much had my commute down to a science that
involves a healthy combination of reliance on the CTA Tracker and my own experiences with
each bus and/or train. I’ve also gotten
to know some people quite well, even though we are strangers. Seeing them for a few minutes every day is
enough for a lifetime. Know what I mean?
Here
are a few of the characters I’ve gotten to know, and whose faces I doubt I’ll
see again until September when my schedule returns to normal:
The
Ceremonial Smoker. Middle-aged woman,
slight, with a dark, bobbed haircut.
Every morning we get off the bus together and she makes a beeline for
the awning of the Chase Bank, where she lights a cigarette and huffs it down
before getting to the train. I can just
imagine her being like, This is MY time,
dammit.
The
Boy Next Door. Nicely-dressed young
professional. Muscle Milk drinker. Totally adorable. One time this other guy drove by while the Boy Next
Door and I were waiting for the bus at 6:30 a.m. and demanded directions to
Magnolia Ave. Boy Next Door said, with
the slightest Southern drawl, “Magnol-ya?
Ah don’t know. Ah
apologize.” My heart died of happiness.
Peanut
Butter. A thirty-something nurse with a
Peter Pan haircut who rides a crowded bus eating a peanut butter sandwich on a
regular basis. Kudos on a healthy breakfast, but that early in the morning, in a crowded space, there are few smells more
nauseating.
Rat’s
Nest. Older woman, petite,
rides the bus to Hyde Park.
She reads books on a wide variety of topics and seems utterly normal
except that her hair is always a gigantic mess.
What’s going on? Does she not
brush it? I don’t know.
Angry
Face. I used to think this guy who rides
from Hyde Park to the Loop every afternoon was a musician or
something because he likes to gesture emphatically with his hands and face, and
I thought he was conducting music in his head. But now I think that he’s just having a
fantasy argument with someone he hates.
Probably one of his coworkers. I
feel bad for Angry Face because I think he hates his job.
The
Bear. My favorite bus driver of all time. I usually catch him on the way home from Hyde
Park. He’s a big guy with dreadlocks and
a drawling voice. When you say thank you
to him, he says, “Uh-huh, watch your step,” really adorably.
Farewell til September, commuter friends.
