What?

I was on the bus the other day, when a scenario which calls to mind yesterday's post transpired. Now, while riding the bus one is not typically drawn into conversation either by fellow riders or drivers, and one is even more seldom imposed upon by the requests of either. Every now and then it will happen, and so it did on this occasion. I am in the habit of occupying myself with music, and so I often feel I am not quite equal to any demands made on me.

There really only are three things that you may be asked to do. There are a couple of benches in the front that fold up to accommodate wheelchair-bound riders, and you may have to do that, as the driver is loath to. You may also have to shut the rear door is it is being balky. I thought there were only those two, but it turns out there is one more. I thought that keeping the windows open or shut was up to the discretion of the rider nearest them, but this turns out to not be the case.

So it was that I, listening to my tunes, saw the driver turn around and say something to a rider closer to the front. I thought little of it. I then saw that rider turn around to me. I did not hear what he said, nor could I really made any sense of his gesticulation. I looked around me for something amiss. I could only surmise that the window was open and perhaps there was a consensus that it ought to be closed. I don't know quite why. It was a warm day, so perhaps the idea was to keep the AC in.

All I really know now is that after I shut that window, neither the driver nor his intermediary bothered me anymore. In the end, isn't that all one can really aspire to on the bus apart from successfully and speedily getting from point A to point B? I would say so. It feels all right to have been of service to my fellow man in the way that I might be if sitting in the emergency exit row of a plane, but really I just hope to be left alone. The obvious exception would be attractive ladies, for whom I would obviously do nearly anything if fortunate enough to encounter any on a bus.