I have ridden the bus when I was the only person on it. Not much theatre to be had in that situation. Today we took the 32A home from lunch at the Griz and it was one mini-play after another.

That gentleman up at the front on the right was a character in the first play. A tall skinny angsty-looking teenage boy got on at the transit center and tried to use a transfer to pay his fare. That did not work. I do not know why. I have never used a transfer. Apparently he could not cobble together 75 cents any other way. He and the bus driver got off the bus and there was some discussion that I couldn’t hear. They got back on the bus and the next thing I heard was the gentleman up there on the right saying he would pay the kid’s fare along with a bunch of stuff about it being xmas, etc. (which it is NOT, thank you very much). The kid thanked his benefactor and headed toward the back of the bus. His benefactor followed up with, “You need to thank Jesus.” Okay. Kid passes me muttering, “I did thank Jesus.” He got off up by the Crescents neighborhood and I bet he didn’t tell his mom anything about that bus ride.

We got to Kerrytown and the gentleman in the seat right in front of me was waiting to board. Directly behind him was a “tower” of, um, possessions, I guess, carefully covered up with garbage bags. The tower was taller than him. The bus driver let him get on and he rolled the tower on with him (I think there was a walker or something underneath it all). Problem. The GG *had* been sitting in the seat right in front of me. This new gentleman needed that seat so he could sit with his tower. So the GG moved.

Of all things, we got to Miller Manor and ANOTHER gentleman was waiting to board with a similar arrangement of garbage bags except much shorter. Or maybe this time it was empty cans. Tower or not, this arrangement also required a special seat. The one the GG had moved to. The GG saw it coming and skedaddled to yet another seat. At least all of this activity kept him awake. He has been known to snooze on the 32A. (You can’t see this new guy or his stuff very well because he’s in front of the tower.)

We got off at our neighborhood and all three of those gentlemen were still on the bus, apparently continuing on to the Westgate Kroger.

This is tangential but I can think of exactly one time in my life when I cashed in returnable bottles and cans in order to buy food. It was when the GG and I were first hanging out with each other and I lived in an upper flat on Seventh Street. We were both gainfully employed so I can’t remember what was going on but there was this one week that we were both a little short a few days before payday. I suppose I could’ve used my credit card (the GG didn’t even have one then) or maybe the grocery store didn’t take credit cards then? I can’t remember although I do remember I used to write checks for groceries. *Anyway*, there were a ton of bottles and cans in the garage at Seventh Street so we hauled them all out and returned them (at the Westgate Kroger) for something like $27.00. I made lentil soup and we paired it with some smoked salmon Sam (archaeologist, not dog) had brought me from Alaska. It was sooooo good.

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