June 2010
1 post
4 tags
“I can’t judge a book by a face I don’t know.”
– Sometime in 2008
Some guy on some bus
May 2010
2 posts
3 tags
“Too many hands in the pudding…ends up ruining it.”
– Sometime in 2002
The cafeteria at Bellevue Community College
Bellevue, WA
5 tags
Cat and dogs
November, 2007
Bus stop at 3rd & Pine
Downtown Seattle, Washington
A man approaches me: late 30s, greasy dark hair, red scabbed nose, twitchy. He holds a clipboard full of tattered papers.
“Hey, we’re just taking a survey. How many people do you live with?”
“Just me,” I answer.
He nods, still twitching, “Oh, okay, okay. Do you make at least $3000 a...
January 2010
4 posts
5 tags
Kosher
January, 2010
Fry’s Electronics
Renton, Washington
Ryan stops to take a look at a display of 3D glasses, and a gentleman standing nearby strikes up a conversation. Texas twang, big moustache, bigger cowboy hat. He says, “I remember the first time I saw a 3D movie when I was just 11…or was I 12? It had snowed that day…no, that was a different day. I was 11.”
...
5 tags
Only difference is how you play it
January 21, 2010
The Newsstand at Third & Pike
Downtown Seattle, Washington
I’m hungry by the time I get downtown after my fiddle lesson, so I get off the bus at Third and Pike and visit the little newsstand on the corner. They’ve got popcorn, coffee, and pretzels now, but I only have one hand free. While he scoops up my popcorn, he asks what’s in the case....
4 tags
4 tags
Some old lady
January 2, 2010
Goodwill
Ballard, Seattle, Washington
Waiting in line to buy picture frames and old LPs, chatting with Anabelle and Robbie, when a woman in the next line interrupts us.
“I just had to say that you look so cute, with your little jacket and your hat. It’s adorable,” she says. I am wearing my leather jacket and a grey cabbie hat.
“Why, thank you,” I...
December 2009
4 posts
5 tags
I make up for it
February 17, 2007
Bus stop at 15th & Campus Parkway
University District, Seattle, Washington
Thin, scrappy-looking black man, rumpled clothes. He rants about all the things that are wrong in the world: the city, the police, the buses, the ex-wife.
“I make up for it, though…I go to the beach and watch the sun set on the ocean.”
5 tags
Is it now?
December 16, 2009
15 bus to downtown
Ballard, Washington
He has two backpacks on the seat next to him, a sleepy expression, an unkempt mustache, and an honest-to-God rat tail. As I settle into my seat, he pulls a full sized bottle of some clear liquor, bare of paper bag, from inside his coat. Ducking his head slightly, he surreptitiously takes a swig.
A pasty, bulbous white man with thin gray...
4 tags
3 tags
It's (not) unusual
October 2, 2009
The office
Seattle, Washington
“And what is your name, dear?” the pleasant, elderly British woman I was helping over the phone asked, as many do.
“Sarah,” I supplied.
“Oh, really?” she said, sounded vaguely surprised. “How do you spell that?”
“S-A-R-A-H,” I said, without thinking. It occurred to me mid-spell what an...
November 2009
7 posts
4 tags
4 tags
Hit
Thanksgiving weekend, 2008
A Firefly-themed coffee shop
Greenwood, Seattle, Washington
It is my right as an older sister to tease my brother about girls, should he be so unfortunate to mention one he fancies.
“Would you hit that, Aaron?”
“I am not an assailant.”
3 tags
What in God's name
March 17, 2006
245 bus to Crossroads
Bellevue, Washington
Sitting across from me is a man in his late thirties with a round, boyish face, short, thin brown hair, and a pathetic attempt at a beard. Glasses frames purchased perhaps in 1987 and a Microsoft lanyard around his neck, his slacks navy blue and his shoes nondescript work boots. Yet his shirt is teal-green crushed velvet with shiny...
3 tags
4 tags
Dainty fingers
Late July, 2009
The bus stop at Queen Anne & Mercer
Seattle, Washington
Sitting on a bench waiting for the bus, canvas tote bag in her lap, knees and feet together, she is a petite, feminine sort of woman. Tidy sandals, knee-length denim pencil skirt, crocheted, cream-colored sweater, she buttons it with dainty fingers, her movements bird-like quick. Hair in a casual bob, glasses...
3 tags
To his chivalry
June 23, 2009
A bus
Seattle, Washington
An old man and a young woman
Each trying to give each other a seat on the bus
She, deferring to his age
And he, to his chivalry.
Age wins.
2 tags
You'll get it back in Richmond.
May 27, 2008
Richmond, Virginia
No one wants to be awake at 4:30am. Dragging my suitcase out of a dark house while Corey, Tod, and the baby sleep inside, I am greeted by the cab driver with a “Good morning to ya.” A middle-aged, middle-thick black man, he’s waiting with the trunk open and takes my suitcase from me while I get settled in the back.
He asks where I’m...
October 2009
5 posts
3 tags
Not a screenwriter
Update: Saw the dreadlocked fellow who was so convinced I was a writer. This time it was, still bright-eyed and eager, “Hey! Are you a barista?”
6 tags
Still From a Box
9:30 am, September 14, 2009
Bus stop at 3rd & Pine
Downtown Seattle
“You look like you could write screenplays!” he says, his long, uneven dreads swaying in the breeze. He smiles broadly, white teeth gleaming against dark skin, and stands just a little too close.
“You write screenplays?”
I grin. “Nope.”
“Could you write a screenplay?”...
5 tags
We're Okay.
May 16, 2008
Downtown Bellevue transit center
Bellevue, Washington
Two teenage skaters are goofing off near me as I wait for the last bus out of the Eastside. They can’t be much more than fourteen, and are quite clearly drunk.
One of them saunters over to me and asks me for a cigarette.
“You’re too young to smoke cigarettes.” I like the irony of pointing this out...
5 tags
How Do You Survive?
July 2, 2008
Bus stop at 15th & Market
Ballard, Seattle, Washington
A young woman, perhaps in her early 30s, in a pink t-shirt and stretch pants. She approaches me at the bus stop.
“Do you want to buy a $1.50 bus ticket for a dollar?”
My pass just ran out and I’ve yet to buy another, so I say yes.
As I pull out my wallet, she squints at me.
“Are you...
6 tags
It's The Nineties
February 7, 2009
The bus stop at 15th & Leary
Ballard, Seattle, Washington
Working at 7am on Saturday is no one’s idea of fun. Walking to the bus just before 6, I see two men waiting there in the dark. One, tall, in a red windbreaker, perhaps 50s, early 60s, says, “Oh, I see how it is!”
I hear breaks, turn, and see the 15 coming down the street, right on time....