It's warm and it's muggy. The kind of weather where jackets are shed and hats left behind.
It's also raining.
In the morning at my bus stop, there are three women who beg for change. They're never all there at once; this morning was the first time that I've seen two together.
They are three very different women. The oldest is an enormously overweight black woman with close-cropped hair. She typically wears brightly-coloured muumuus and oversized hoop earrings that dangle nearly to her shoulders.
The second is a thin, middle-aged Hispanic woman, hair coiffed and carrying a briefcase. She, like the first, is well-groomed (and professionally dressed). When they ask for money, you are always surprised.
The third is a twenty-something Anglo, stringy blonde hair, sweat pants and a dirty tee-shirt. Each time I see her, she has a different physical ailment. Once she had her leg in a brace. Most recently, she sported a freshly-broken nose with two black eyes.
As different as these women are physically, they always ask the same thing. They always ask for 75¢ to ride the bus. Mind you, the bus fare is $1.50, but they always ask for 75¢.
On several occasions, I've given them some change. On each occasion, the woman in question has walked (or hobbled) immediately to the convenience store on the corner and come out with a can of beer in a brown paper bag and a bottle of Pepsi. In each case, they've calmly sat back down at the bus stop and opened both, drinking alternately.
In one case, the woman in question thanked me for the bus fare while she sipped her Pepsi.
Needless to say, I don't give them change any more.
I've never seen any of the three actually get on the bus. Sometimes, they wander up MLK Ave. (always going south, the direction from which the bus comes), or they just stay on the bench.
It's like they took the same class or something.
All three of them wear sandals in all weather.
What brought this to mind was this: today two of them were at the bus stop. In the three minutes I waited for the bus, both the woman in the enormous lime-green muumuu and the woman in the charcoal grey suit asked me for 75¢.
As the bus arrived, the lime-green muumuu trundled south down MLK. The charcoal grey suit sat down on the bench.
Both wore the same type of sandals.
As I was getting on the bus, I had the distinct impression that they were the Norns, slumming in Tacoma.
So what was your morning like?
It's also raining.
In the morning at my bus stop, there are three women who beg for change. They're never all there at once; this morning was the first time that I've seen two together.
They are three very different women. The oldest is an enormously overweight black woman with close-cropped hair. She typically wears brightly-coloured muumuus and oversized hoop earrings that dangle nearly to her shoulders.
The second is a thin, middle-aged Hispanic woman, hair coiffed and carrying a briefcase. She, like the first, is well-groomed (and professionally dressed). When they ask for money, you are always surprised.
The third is a twenty-something Anglo, stringy blonde hair, sweat pants and a dirty tee-shirt. Each time I see her, she has a different physical ailment. Once she had her leg in a brace. Most recently, she sported a freshly-broken nose with two black eyes.
As different as these women are physically, they always ask the same thing. They always ask for 75¢ to ride the bus. Mind you, the bus fare is $1.50, but they always ask for 75¢.
On several occasions, I've given them some change. On each occasion, the woman in question has walked (or hobbled) immediately to the convenience store on the corner and come out with a can of beer in a brown paper bag and a bottle of Pepsi. In each case, they've calmly sat back down at the bus stop and opened both, drinking alternately.
In one case, the woman in question thanked me for the bus fare while she sipped her Pepsi.
Needless to say, I don't give them change any more.
I've never seen any of the three actually get on the bus. Sometimes, they wander up MLK Ave. (always going south, the direction from which the bus comes), or they just stay on the bench.
It's like they took the same class or something.
All three of them wear sandals in all weather.
What brought this to mind was this: today two of them were at the bus stop. In the three minutes I waited for the bus, both the woman in the enormous lime-green muumuu and the woman in the charcoal grey suit asked me for 75¢.
As the bus arrived, the lime-green muumuu trundled south down MLK. The charcoal grey suit sat down on the bench.
Both wore the same type of sandals.
As I was getting on the bus, I had the distinct impression that they were the Norns, slumming in Tacoma.
So what was your morning like?
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