Bus Ride Nutters and their Dramaramas
Two urban vignettes from the metro buses of Greater Seattle edited from text messages to my wife, Faithlyn, on our iPhones, during the winter when we were between cars, and I struggled with prolonged, serious illness:
Monday 10 February 2025
So will get off at Highland Terrace, the small, triangular park just above Northwest School for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and walk downhill to our apartment at The Current. I have my headlamp on cuz it’s dark along that stretch but hopefully not full of crazy druggies who whirl around and glare atcha like they’d charge in a second. Had a man on the Aurora bus earlier who was talking to entities only he could see. He spoke to these Invisibles as one engaged in a normal conversation with a friend. When he stood up to get off the bus at the next stop, he hoisted a blanket high up over his head; twas plain as day he was stark naked from the waist down to his shoes. Startled, one homeless man jerked up straight in his seat, stared hard, and blurted out, “Good Lord a mercy, that fool ain’t got on no pants! And it cold on them nuts!”
Yeah, Lord, it’s cold on those nuts! It’s February, after all. Must be some tough nuts.
Saturday 15 February 2025
Hey, Faithlyn, at some point in the next 2-3 days I plan to make bus trips up to Costco and Fred Meyer and then down to Office Depot and Aurora PCC. Oh goodness, a drunk woman dressed like those Aurora Avenue street prostitutes despite the winter cold just got on the bus. Her face twitches in all directions. She’s yelling really loud about how much her head hurts. She is shouting at the bus driver about taking her some 7/11 store, and there isn’t any 7/11 nearby. The bus driver ignores her as he steers the bus southward ho. Oh, now she sits down and talks normal. Weird. But her face twitches like bugs be squirreling around under her skin. Tourette’s? Drugs? Poor nutrition? Syphilis in her brain? Medicine side effects? I do not know. All random speculation about some poor, sad, addled woman who moved from being mad at the world to being in pain to shapeshifting like some sci-fi alien into a sweetie pie.
I canna stand it!
There’s too much trauma in the world.
Imagine making love to someone with bugs squirming around under their skin? Imagine if cockroaches be popping thru the skin and scooting out the face? Ewwwuh!
Imagine the person you’re in bed with isn’t human at all!
Thing is, they’re still a conscious, sentient soulful Child of God, a Seed from the Stars carried down into Earth on a comet like a stork delivering the basket to the front door.
I wanna get back under the covers with you, Faithlyn!
Lonely tragic just as many fellow Earth Humans are. The homeless drunks, drug addicts, and mentally ill are the “Jesus lepers” of our times.
The “crazy lady with bugs under her skin” just got off the bus all friendly and sweet. She waves to everyone. The stop she asked to be drop-off at isn’t anywhere near any 7/11 store. I think she has Tourette’s Syndrome. So what if she does? For her it might as well be summertime the way she’s barely dressed out here on a February morning.
Sometimes wondered if I may have a mild version with all my tics and sudden outbursts. Many with any one particular neurodevelopment disorder usually have others. The majority of us neurodivergent people endure having multiple such issues. They overlap. People who struggle thus have a host of social challenges. Tourette’s Syndrome, as intense as it can be, is one of multiple such conditions. Neurotypicals boil over with so many judgements. Even when they try to help. Besides, maybe the woman was coming down off a bout of tweaker meth or PCP or perhaps her facial spasms are some myoclonal side effect of her medication. Regardless, we need to be as kind as we are firm and as compassionate as we maintain boundaries. Help make the world a better place during so much suffering, and, aye, stay aware and wise enough to choose our battles.
Well, the upside of riding city buses is one is rarely ever bored. There’s so much dramarama going on! A man in winter time riding the bus and walking about with only shoes on his feet, a shirt on, and a blanket over his head, silently boasting a proud swaggle of cold nuts. A woman in pain switching from rage to sweetness. Both of them talking to everyone and no one on a cold February morning. Life goes on. Tough times. So civilized we are with our mastery of electricity.
William Dudley Bass
Monday 10 February 2025
Saturday 15 February 2025
Wednesday 5 March 2025
Monday 20 April 2026
Shoreline/Seattle, Washington
USA
Cascadia
Earth
Copyright © 2026 by William Dudley Bass. All Rights Reserved by the Author & his Descendants until we Humans establish Wise Stewardship over and for our Earth and Solarian Commons. Thank you.