ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Yesterday, I went for brunch in the shuk with my friend Rena and Bubbie Channah. We love the shuk...the smells, the people...everything. Maybe one day I'll write a blog about Macheneh Yehudah. Remind me. :)

After lunch, I went to visit one of the women from my writing class. Lovely lady, and anytime we are together is delicious.

The reason I am mentioning all this is that to get from her house to mine, I have to take the number twenty-one bus...door to door. Nice that I don't have to switch busses, but since she lives at one end of the city and I live at the other, that same bus trip takes at least an hour!

At three minutes after four, I boarded the bus at her house, and by five, I was back in my own neighbourhood.

The bus was rather empty when I got on and I noticed towards the front there was a single seat on the left hand side. There are only a few single seats on the busses and if you are lucky to find one then you don't have to get up and down and be pushed into the window by the happy passenger who chooses you for a seat mate.

Back to the bus. In front of me a man was sitting in another single-seater and facing him was an empty two-seater. He was a skinny man wearing a purple baseball cap over close cropped salt and pepper hair.

The reason I noticed all this was because, shortly after I sat down, the man began to talk out loud. At first, I thought he was talking into a cell phone. Nope. He was talking to the world.

My first reaction was embarrassment...poor fellow must have lost his mind. Happens, no? He talked about everything and anything we passed by in the bus. I noticed the look on the other passengers' faces and they matched mine. We all tried really hard not to stare at him. We all shook our heads as if to say 'poor fellow' and we all sat silently.

The truth was I was a little afraid of the 'crazy' man in front. Off with the cap/on with the cap...cough cough...talk talk.

My imagination soared. Who is he? He looked like an Arab...or could easily have been a Jew from an Arab country...Iraq/Iran/Egypt/Tunis...Maybe he's drunk or on drugs!

We continued along until finally we got to the center of town. Good, I thought, maybe he'll get off here. Instead, a young girl with a baby got on and sat down facing him. Oh, no! I thought, but what could I do? Before I could think of anything, another woman got on and she too was holding a baby. She sat down next to the other mother.

Little sweet babies. Both were about a year old.

The bus took off. The man renewed his conversation with the Canterbury Ghost and the two women held their babies closer.

Then, suddenly the two babies began talking to the man! Giggling and reaching out to him, they thought he was talking to them!

He stopped and began waving and talking and nodding his head to the two little babies. They laughed. The people in the bus smiled.

After a few more stops the man got off.

See, the babies knew. He wasn't a scary old man after all. He was just talking to himself until he found someone better to talk to.

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.