Make yourself at home

Today’s “I’m not your mama” moment on the DART rail.

Funky town

The atmosphere on the bus today is, let’s say, rich with human experience.

Dignity

Everyday she does her best to put on clean, pressed, matching outfits. Her hair is trimmed but very dry; standing out like the seeds of a dandelion. Her face is a map of well travelled roads. She is very thin with a long neck emphasized by the fact that she convulsively swallows with every breath forcing her head to bob forward slightly. She is always polite to the driver and other passengers and even though she only has money for the fare about half the time I’ve only seen her turned away once.

Yesterday she got on the bus carrying a large styrofoam cup with a top and straw. The posted rules forbid this but I’ve never seen it enforced, one man even drinks liquor openly from a pint bottle occasionally on this same bus. Many riders, myself included, regularly have a cup of coffee or some other drink with them. On top of all of the other social indignities she endures daily the driver called her out and told she return to the front of the bus, remove the top of her cup and show him the contents. Her face barely hinted at what this indignity cost her.

I Rant, Therefore I Am

“Ain’t you scared to be up here?” I left work a little later than usual today so I was standing on the platform at Park Lane Station at dusk. I was posited / given this admonishment by a fellow in a rumpled tan business suit as he walked past looking straight ahead. There was no one else near so I asked the person he was addressing what I was meant to be afraid of…

The Butterfly

With two purses, several grocery bags and a stroller containing toiletries she commanded three seats on the train. Her hair, shoulder length brown with 3 inches of bright magenta at the ends, was down at first but she soon teased it up into an impression of eraser-head. Next she applied dark red axle grease that smelled strongly of strawberry jam to the brunette portion. This was slathered on by hand then worked in first with a comb then a brush and finally  pulled it into ponytail at the top. A long wavy brown wig came out of one of the grocery bags which she painstakingly detangled with those same fingers, dropping broken hairs on the adjacent seat. My stop being imminent I worried I would miss the final stage of the metamorphosis; she emerging transformed from the chrysalis of the train. I was simultaneously rewarded and disappointed just before my station when the wig was folded away, returned to the grocery bag and placed once more in the snug safety of the stroller. The first robin of spring was not to be mine.

Pigeon little

Sitting on the stairs that come down from the train platform waiting for my bus – the benches are in the sun and it’s already too hot to sit there. I hear a loud, wet splatter nearby and realize a pigeon perched somewhere overhead has just taken his morning constitutional. Reflexively I’m checking above me for other incontinent foul when I catch the eye of a fellow close by doing the same thing. We both laugh as he moves away, not happy with his chances

Jurassic Park Fast-Forward

There’s something primeval and a bit disturbing about watching two pigeons fighting over a chicken bone. Pigs eating bacon?

Schmorgesborg

Sitting next to the world’s smelliest dude listening to the bus driver tell a young lady that the reason women don’t like trans-gender men; they feel like they are spying on them in the ladies restrooms. The bus horn sticks in the on position and stinky-man infuriates the driver by laughing histerically.

An Unforeseen Convenience

DART’s new “Reserved Monthly Parking” lot. It’s the closest lot to the station in Plano directly adjacent to the platform. Parking has always been gratis up until the first of April. Now only residents of the city, in this case Plano – where the station is located, get free parking. All non-residents must pay $40 per month. The Reserved Monthly Parking lot is a pay-only lot and anyone can park there provided they pony-up,  $60 per month for non-residents and $30 for residents. I don’t think it’s getting the play they had hoped…

On the positive side it certainly cut down the number of obstacles (parked cars) I need to walk around on my way to the platform.

Gingerbread Station

Apparently Hansel and Gretel don’t know about DART’s wonderful online trip planning feature which includes the “Return Trip” function…

Albatross-size breadcrumbs