Tonight I was on the bus. As we stopped at 116th Street, I looked out my window to notice a woman completely freaking out on the bus stop pole (see the above image as Exhibit A). She was shaking it with all of her might, and that might was considerable. She was shaking it so hard it seemed as if she were trying to uproot it from the sidewalk. I looked over at the two girls who were sitting across from me; they were transfixed, just like me.
After a few minutes I saw her change her position and start shaking the pole from another angle. I looked up as I heard the BUS DRIVER CACKLING. Then the woman started to smack, open-palmed, the pole with all of her strength, all the while keeping up a steady barrage of who-knows-what coming out of her mouth. Just screaming and smacking a pole. It's fine.
Then, as we started to pull away at the green light, she backed away from the pole into the middle of the sidewalk, all the while waving her arms every which way and shouting, twisting this way and that, and basically throwing a huge tantrum. At which point the man behind me on the bus said, "What is she on and where did she get it?!"
We all continued to watch as we pulled further down the street, all four of us that were on the bus. As we got far enough away that I was about to turn around, I saw her get down on the ground, in the snow, and start rolling around in the snow, almost as if her clothes were on fire. Maybe she thought they were; who knows?
Whether this happening was drug-induced or just a general anger-management issue, it is part of why I love this city. The Crazies are always out. And there is nothing like a Crazy to bond strangers on a bus together. It was horrifying and amazing at the same time.
It was beautiful. (Throwback to the title. See what I did there? You're welcome).
Wow. Things like this are not happening in my cozy little suburban corner of TX. ;-)
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