urbanfabric

Crazy Trumps Waiting for the Bus. Any Day.

Waiting for the bus this morning, in Philadelphia, I noticed a woman standing in the street staring at the bus stop. Or staring at me sitting in the bus stop. Standing, in the bus lane, staring at me. That was my first clue. Then, as she unwrapped her egg sandwich (on a hoagie roll, like the kind from a truck), she began to talk, then yell, possibly at her sandwich.

Then I decided to get up and walk out of the bus shelter. But, I couldn't go far, as I was actually waiting for a bus. And, I knew that I probably didn't have time to make it to the next stop, without missing the bus while in between.

An NJ Transit bus came and sat for an unusually long time, so in an effort to see if my bus was coming up behind it, I got closer to the shelter. Too close.

"Get out of here, f-ing bitch!"

I honestly don't know if that was directed at me or the bus. Or any of the number of invisible people who were apparently giving her a rough time this morning. So, I hid, behind the advertisement on the far end of the shelter. She was eating a sandwich and the bus stop bench was a far better place than standing in a lane of traffic, right?

A grown woman, hiding, waiting for the bus.

What was I supposed to do? She didn't seem homeless, just, unmedicated. I considered telling the Center City District folks that were cleaning the streets, but what do I say?

"Uh, excuse me, there's a mentally ill woman who's kicked me out of the bus shelter."

"And, she's not even waiting for the bus!"

Labels: crazy, NJ Transit

posted by marthadotcom @ 1:19 PM