It was a beautiful
mild breezy November Monday morning.
The moon was bright
and clear in the sky as I sat waiting for my bus.
Everything was
running smoothly.
My bus arrived right
on time.
Just as I got to the
subway platform, the train arrived.
Upon arrival at Finch
Station there were only a few people in
line at the Tim
Horton’s counter.
I had the exact
change needed for my large double double.
And it was so hot,
the sweet girl double cupped it without me having to ask.
I got up to the bus
platform with 5 minutes to spare and was first in line
So I could get the
seat on the bus of my choice.
Seriously, it was a
great start to my day.
When I got on the bus
I did my usual routine;
place my bag
perfectly on my lap, balance my coffee on my leg against
the seat in front in
the corner, turn on my MP3 player,
take out my pen and
newspaper to read and do the crossword.
10 minutes in, a
gentleman sits on the seat in front of me.
He sits sideways on a
seat that faces front.
He looks at me and
says something.
I took out my ear buds
and said, “pardon me?”
I heard, “ blah blah
blah I need your pen,
blah blah blah can I
use your pen?”
At that very moment,
I felt like Sheldon when Leonard
asked him for a
napkin. I wanted to say no.
I already have a
thing about germs on the bus.
(I’m going to get my flu shot Friday on my way home from work.)
To give a man, who
was less than hygienic to begin with,
my pen, caused my
cootie alarm to go off.
I gave him my pen.
He then started
writing on his plastic bag
while mumbling to
himself.
I kept my ear buds in
but turned off my music.
When he handed me
back my pen, I held it in my right hand.
ONLY my right hand.
This is then how it
went.
“I need your
newspaper. It’s really important. Blah blah
blah. I need to check
something right away. Blah blah blah.
That’s the way uh-huh
uh-huh I like it uh-huh uh-huh.”
“I’m sorry sir, I’ve
not finished reading my paper and
I will be doing the
crossword. If you’re still on the bus
when I’ve finished
I’ll give it to you.
If not, they are free and available at every bus stop”
“But I need it. Blah
blah blah. Why are you being so selfish?
Blah, blah, blah.
It’s important, blah blah blah.”
It is at this time
that I stopped looking up
and engaging with
him.
I continued reading
my newspaper and doing my crossword
while he continued
mumbling and invading my personal space.
He got up to talk to
the bus driver for a bit and when
he sat back down, he
sat in a different seat, thank goodness.
He kept looking at me
though as he shuffled restlessly in his
seat waiting for my
newspaper.
Magic to my ears.
“Bing”.
He rang the bell to
get off.
YAY!
I kept the pen in my
right hand & didn’t touch anything else.
The second I walked
through the door at work I used the huge bottle of
hand sanitizer the
receptionist keeps on her desk on my hand and the pen.
When I got upstairs
to my desk & got my jacket off
I went to the
washroom and washed my hands again
like I was scrubbing
up for open heart surgery.
Note to self:
I can say no to strangers
when they ask to borrow my pen.
Or
Carry a pen to give
to strangers when they ask to borrow my pen.
