Things are a little crazy in downtown Manhattan right now post-Hurricane-Sandy what with the 1 stations closed indefinitely, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set up in Battery Park, and random generators buzzing on street corners to keep work lights glowing. When I got to my bus stop last night for the first time since my office lost power two weeks ago, the ticketing machines were dark and had signs taped on them that said, “Machines are down. Board the bus.”
There were plenty of people waiting at the stop, but that’s normal for 5:30, and I had every expectation of a nice, quiet ride home. Incredibly, two buses pulled up at once, and while half of the crowd went one way, I went with the other half toward the second bus.
We all ambled toward the front entrance, forming a single-file line. Of course I could’ve passed the older women in front of me what with my powerful hind quarters, but I am a lady and chose to stay back. But just as the woman in front of me was slooooowly making her way into the bus, this girl in the generic black coat/black skirt/black tights/black ballet flats work uniform of anyone who’s graduated from college in the past five years came out of nowhere, annoyedly huffed once in my ear, and attempted to cut me off and board the bus at the same time as the older woman.
Now, I understood that this was not the type of bus where you have to stop and pay once you’re inside, but the only time I’ve ever seen two people try to enter the bus at once, it resulted in an all-out physical fight. So I did what any woman with a purse stuffed to the gills with ten pounds of wallet, Kindle, keys, and lipstick would do, and I thrust my arm out to block the door with it.
