Dinner, my treat
This evening, as I was taking the 17 bus home from downtown into Uptown, the ride was uneventful until we got to the stop at the bridge over the freeway on Nicollet Ave.
A boisterous woman got on the bus, and told the driver, “I’m the one with the handcap. I’ve been on your bus before, I have a plate in my foot, don’t start the bus til I’m sitting down.” She gets on the bus, sits down, the driver starts the bus. The woman starts saying “hi” to people she knows, which wound up being half the bus – most of these people didn’t seem to recognize her, but she knew many of their names and said “I see you on the bus all the time!”
A couple of people who did obviously know the woman were sitting about halfway across the bus from her. She offered to buy them dinner if they got off at her stop. They said that they had already eaten, but she invited them along for company.
The woman proceeded to invite everyone on the bus, including the driver, to dinner – her treat.
The man sitting next to her, an older man with a fresh wound on his face, told her he was homeless. She told him “come home with me, you can sleep on our couch! I’m serious!” She tacked on “I’m serious!” to the end of most of her offers of free meals.
A part of me wishes I hadn’t had perishable groceries in my lap so I could have seen how this played out.
May 22nd, 2012 at 10:20 am
Was the woman large, with shoulder-length, straight brown hair and glasses? Did she use a cane? Did she get off at the Uptown Diner? If so, I see her all the time, almost daily, all over town, and on too many bus rides to count. She’s another one of those People In Your Neighborhood, like Scott Seekins and Colored Suit Man. She talks to everyone, relentlessly, and if there’s no one answering or around, she talks to the air…pretty sure it’s a disorder or illness. Years ago she would just make benign, endless conversation, but lately I’ve noticed that she’s started sounding angrier, and sometimes cursing as part of her diatribe…a few weeks ago I saw her in the aisle at Kowalski’s ranting angrily to herself about the products on the shelf. I hope she has folks to watch over her and help her out.