'Plaint of the Playwright

'Plaint of the Playwright

[ Monday, June 10, 2002 ]

An odd thing happened today to me, on my way to work.

The bus was a little earlier than it's been lately, and I was a little later, so it went cruising by me. I ran after it, yelling and cursing, even though that specificaly what "Miller's Crossing" tells you not to do.

So I'm walking up to the next bus stop. It arrives in about five minutes, and it's at least a ten minute walk to the stop, now that I've missed the first bus.

Suddenly, I hear a car horn.

I look over in the Griff's parking lot, and see a guy in a car.

He's waving at me.

I look around.

Nope, he's waving at me, alright.

He gets out of his car as I walk over.

Because I still haven't accepted that I'm a grownup yet, I have that But He's A STRAAAAAANGER vibe run down my back.

"Hey," he says, "what bus were you taking?"

Um. I was trying to get the 50.

"Are you gonna make your connection?"

Well, my connection's at Watts. I usually catch the 7 from there.

"You gonna make it?"

I look at my watch.

I'm not sure.

"Because I can give you a ride."

Just to Watts?

"Sure. Going that way anyway."

Thanks.

"Get in the back, there, I got stuff in the front seat."

I do.

We take off.

"I saw you running after the bus there, I was kinda suprised the driver didn't stop."

Yeah.

Jeez, if this guy saw me running and cursing, and he still wanted to give me a ride, pencil him in for sainthood.

He drops me off.

Thanks again!

"No problem! You have a good day now."

The bus shows up.

I'm thinking about how, for once, I'm glad I work at a bank. As a result, I'm wearing a white shirt and tie with dress pants. With my backpack on, I look like a Mormon. I even shaved this morning. There's something to be said for looking like an honor student, even if you're not.

As I listen to my walkman (a cappella version of "Creep" by Radiohead) the bus driver takes a call, saying: "What? A laptop?"

There are only two other passengers besides me on the bus.

The bus driver say to us, "hey, can you take a look back there? Some guy thinks he left his laptop on the bus."

The guy across from me gets up and looks around.

I decide to look behind me...and I find the laptop.

I bring it up, as the driver is telling whoever it is, "Awp! We found it. So, does he want me to meet him somewhere, or is he gonna pick it up..."

The guy across from me notes that it was a good thing I found it--a laptop's a terrible thing to lose.

You know, I almost didn't even make it on here. I missed the first bus and some guy gave me a ride.

"Huh," the guy says.

So, some stranger helps me out, and I help some stranger out.

"Yep," the third passenger says, "what comes around, goes around."

And I feel so good that I don't even point out to him that he's got it backwards.



posted by Rob on 10:40 AM | link

--------------------

0 Comments:

Post a Comment