I took the bus home yesterday evening after a horrendous day at work. When it finally arrives, the bus driver announces to the folks queued up to get on that a gentlemen in a wheelchair will be disembarking at this stop. One guy, who was wearing headphones, must not have heard and got on anyway.
The buses here are set up so that the people in the front need to get up so there’s enough room to allow the wheelchair to pass. Apparently, there was an elderly and disabled lady seated in one of these seats. After the wheelchair guy was on the platform that lowers him to the sidewalk he began cursing at someone on the bus. As I was standing outside and had Chevelle blasting in my ear I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying. He was finally lowered to the sidewalk, cursed at someone on the bus once again and rolled away.
We all file on and make our way to the back of the bus, as it was standing room only. We all notice the bus isn’t moving and, furthermore, there seems to be some sort of commotion in the front of the bus. Some people are raising their voices at the guy seated in the first seat. There’s an elderly lady standing directly in front of the guy on the receiving end of much verbal scorn. She’s leaning on a cane. I’m still not sure what’s going on as Queens of the Stone Age is now blasting in my ear.
I remove my headphones to get the scoop. It turns out the elderly lady on the cane abandoned her seat so the gentleman in the wheelchair could get off the bus. When she got up, the guy who first got on the bus took her seat. OK, maybe it was an honest mistake at first. Once he either a) learned it was her seat or b) saw an old lady with a cane standing in front of him the other passengers felt he should have offered his seat to her.
I, for one, say fight the muthafuckin’ power, man. For far too long in this country the elderly and disabled have had a free ride. They get the choice seats on the bus, those nifty scooter things and wheelchairs. Who cares if there’s a sticker in plain view that advises passengers the seats in the front are, by law, reserved for the elderly and or disabled? This man was the Rosa Parks of the able-bodied. He was a hero. I was awe-struck by his sheer bravery in the face of segregation. That’s right, segregation. What else would you call a labeled, separate area for the elderly and disabled? The situation is tantamount to drinking fountains, restrooms and store entrances divided into those for whites and those for coloreds.
How’d it end? Well, a rather large fellow in the back of the bus learned of the situation at hand and made his way to the front of the bus to assist. He asked the brave soul to vacate his seat. The man, nay the paladin of the sound-bodied held steadfast and refused to move. The large fellow warned the man that he would use physical force to remove him from the seat. Our hero, undaunted, was not swayed. A slight (rather one-sided, as our hero wasn’t of a large build, but rather short and rotund) scuffle ensued and the paladin of the sound-bodied was summarily plucked from his perch. That’s how it is; the man is always trying to keep you (from sitting) down. The evil villain (you remember, the elderly lady with a cane) sat down. The villagers cheered.
Our hero, determined not to stand, >squeezed< into the seat next to the evil villain. The evil villain was a rather large woman and our hero, too, was a more than a tad wide in the butt region so neither person was comfortable. After sitting, the paladin of the able-bodied let loose his (after the) battle cry,
“I hate fucking people!!!”
On of the villagers, without missing a beat, retorted,
“Well, then, yo’ ass need a car!”
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t a laugh at this one.
The bus finally took off and a few stops later an evil henchman of the elderly and disabled disguised as an MTA official got on and had the man removed from the bus.
The villagers cheered.
