Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Drunk in Spanish

At first I thought that the man who stumbled into the bus was just a very joyful and happy man. He was singing in Spanish as he entered. Soon I realized that there was more than just happiness. There was probably alcohol. A lot of it.

He didn't even stop to pay the fare but the driver called him and he tried to play nice to her, to kiss her. She is kind of trapped on her seat but I can see her pushing him away. He blew her a kiss and still without paying his fare, he walks in and go sit next to a woman who's using crutches to walk. She is a regular on this bus. I've seen her before.

After a couple of minutes talking to her, the man gets bored and walks toward the back of the bus. He seats close to a young woman wearing a "Parenthood planning" T-shirt. She raises and comes toward me to sit.
She is a blond in her late 20's, talking on her cell phone and describing the path taken by the bus: "Now we're coming to 16th Street", "Now we're here". At the stop before mine, the guy exits the bus, still laughing, still singing, so obviously drunk.
The woman watches him as he jumps over a bench in the park. In Spanish she says to no one in particular. "Que loco!". There are some reactions around. People smiling. Her Spanish seems quite poor and heavily accented. She, though, seems to find that somehow speaking in Spanish makes it ok to talk about the guy who just left the bus. So, she keeps piling the adjectives (Que tonto!) and laughing lauder and lauder. She seems rather pleased with herself.

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