Crazy doesn't stop for tourists

This entry is dedicated to my most recent visitor from Cali, Erin. She was with me to experience this incident on the #11 bus on our way downtown. After boarding the bus at the stop near my apartment, we made our way towards downtown Seattle with plans to visit Pike Place Market and shop around the waterfront, a lovely day indeed. We had been on the bus only 5 stops when a women boarded at 19th and Madison. So the story beings....

She was dressed pretty ratty, with gnarly hair, dirty shoes and a paper cup: clearly down on her luck, so to say. But, she was also missing some mental capacity too, because within seconds of sitting down near the front of the bus, a very loud and wet sound gutted from her throat and she proceeded to spit so loudly the whole bus heard.

Being completely grossed out, all I could do was shudder and turn to Erin to hide my nauseum from others; at least she had her cup, I thought. Boy was I wrong. A gentleman sitting across the aisle from her commented to her, "That is really inappropriate". The next thing I know, the bus driver is watching everyone in the mirror and responds with, "Did she just spit?". "Yeah", was the gentlemans response. "Okay ma'am, you have to get off at the next stop". Well, apparently, the cup she was holding wasn't her spit cup so she chose to use the floor instead. As the bus pulled over one stop from where she had gotten on, the woman rose from her seat only to spit on the floor again, bigger and louder than the first. I'm gagging in my seat and grateful that this woman is now being banned from all buses, and feeling sorry for Erin who had to witness this with me.

We finish our ride to 5th Ave and as I get up from my seat, I tiptoe my way down the aisle to 1) ease my irrational fear of slipping which I have developed since moving to Washington, and 2) avoid getting the woman's toxic venom anywhere near my feet. We safely disembark the bus, thankful to be in the open air again.