A Bus Ride in California
Sometime in the afternoon when the sun was still high and stabbing the Pacific. The bus dropped us off at the base of a hill at the gates of Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. Our luggage absorbed the entire sidewalk as we walked up that pavement. Tyler noted that we must have been the first people to have been dropped off in such a fashion at the footsteps of Pepperdine...their students being all rather wealthy.
The train pulled into LA that day around noon. We had spent 40 hours riding across half the nation. And we made it to the end of it all...the great, vast Pacific. Which soon we were to cross.
As we rolled all our luggage up the steep hill, we deliberated on calling my friends at this fine institution. But we were burdened down with all the luggage. So we hid all our baggage behind the tennis courts where supposedly Matthew Mcnaughey or maybe it was Pamela Anderson plays. We threw them in the midst of these bushes. My suit case and large backpack doing somersaults into their respective hiding places in the brush. Then..it was up to the student center to grab something to eat, to contact my Pepperdine friends, and to recharge all electrical devices. We retreived our luggage shortly after and was shown to our lodging for the next 2 nights...at Aaron and Dusty's dorm.
The Crazy Cat Woman
Every town has their own sort of eccentrics. Our first encounter with Malibu we had the outright fortune to meet one of this affluent town's most capital mad persons. We were on the bus from Santa Monica to Malibu, all our luggage surrounding our seats, when the bus stopped and this middle-aged woman climbed on board with her cat. The bus driver said something to her. She said loudly as in protest, and held out some type of permit card. Detailing how a cat was definitely aloud on board. And how dare he question the rights of cats. As she sat, rather irate, she continued to preach about the "backward" civilizations were cats are less welcomed. Then she got into insulting certain passengers on board, notably the 2 Hispanic girls sitting near her. And then to this little old grandmother who held a baby and her boy of a grandson sitting nearby. Something to the effect of calling her pathetic for disciplining her children in old school ways. She mentioned it as "child abuse". The boy was about to smart off when the grandma wrapped her bony hand around his mouth to keep him from probably indulging in a little name calling. The crazy cat lady saw this and began to insult them more saying that there are such people who so warp their children into being just as ignorant as they themselves are. At this belittlement, I had had enough. I couldn't take anymore. So right after this comment, I chimed in very matter of factly, "....Well, maybe, if they're lucky they'll grow up to be those crazy cat woman types who ride on buses, who talk complete nonsense, insulting everybody. For everyone knows that a town is not complete without such ridiculous people."
The cat woman's eyes widen. She was under attack and she knew it. Her worshipped cat hopped about on her lap. Her lashings continued but this time aimed at the entire bus. "You know psychologists say that those who use the bus as a form of public transportation are the dregs, the lower class of a civilization, the mass of the uneducated." Tyler, shot back, "Ma'am, Just so you know I have a Master's degree."
And I couldn't help to infuriate her more with a confession, "And I...I...I've eaten cat!" I announced to the whole bus. "And how good and tasty it was." ( I haven't really eaten cat that I'm aware of, I just thought to throw it in there.) She was pretty perturbed and continued her rantings. And when her stop came she marched off with her kitty. She was probably the president of PITA.
The train pulled into LA that day around noon. We had spent 40 hours riding across half the nation. And we made it to the end of it all...the great, vast Pacific. Which soon we were to cross.
As we rolled all our luggage up the steep hill, we deliberated on calling my friends at this fine institution. But we were burdened down with all the luggage. So we hid all our baggage behind the tennis courts where supposedly Matthew Mcnaughey or maybe it was Pamela Anderson plays. We threw them in the midst of these bushes. My suit case and large backpack doing somersaults into their respective hiding places in the brush. Then..it was up to the student center to grab something to eat, to contact my Pepperdine friends, and to recharge all electrical devices. We retreived our luggage shortly after and was shown to our lodging for the next 2 nights...at Aaron and Dusty's dorm.
The Crazy Cat Woman
Every town has their own sort of eccentrics. Our first encounter with Malibu we had the outright fortune to meet one of this affluent town's most capital mad persons. We were on the bus from Santa Monica to Malibu, all our luggage surrounding our seats, when the bus stopped and this middle-aged woman climbed on board with her cat. The bus driver said something to her. She said loudly as in protest, and held out some type of permit card. Detailing how a cat was definitely aloud on board. And how dare he question the rights of cats. As she sat, rather irate, she continued to preach about the "backward" civilizations were cats are less welcomed. Then she got into insulting certain passengers on board, notably the 2 Hispanic girls sitting near her. And then to this little old grandmother who held a baby and her boy of a grandson sitting nearby. Something to the effect of calling her pathetic for disciplining her children in old school ways. She mentioned it as "child abuse". The boy was about to smart off when the grandma wrapped her bony hand around his mouth to keep him from probably indulging in a little name calling. The crazy cat lady saw this and began to insult them more saying that there are such people who so warp their children into being just as ignorant as they themselves are. At this belittlement, I had had enough. I couldn't take anymore. So right after this comment, I chimed in very matter of factly, "....Well, maybe, if they're lucky they'll grow up to be those crazy cat woman types who ride on buses, who talk complete nonsense, insulting everybody. For everyone knows that a town is not complete without such ridiculous people."
The cat woman's eyes widen. She was under attack and she knew it. Her worshipped cat hopped about on her lap. Her lashings continued but this time aimed at the entire bus. "You know psychologists say that those who use the bus as a form of public transportation are the dregs, the lower class of a civilization, the mass of the uneducated." Tyler, shot back, "Ma'am, Just so you know I have a Master's degree."
And I couldn't help to infuriate her more with a confession, "And I...I...I've eaten cat!" I announced to the whole bus. "And how good and tasty it was." ( I haven't really eaten cat that I'm aware of, I just thought to throw it in there.) She was pretty perturbed and continued her rantings. And when her stop came she marched off with her kitty. She was probably the president of PITA.
posted by Brian Harrison | 2:00 AM
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