Bussing

Ever since my bike was stolen last semester I have taken the bus (most of the time) to get to and from school. It's nice to see different people going about their business, whatever that might be. Yesterday evening, I was on a bus talking about an assignment with a classmate of mine, when two inebriated gentlemen chose to insert themselves into our conversation. Their intentions were seemingly complimentary, as the seeming leader of the two repeatedly called us professors, and other expletive ridden titles. Eventually the conversation turned, at my prompting, to the gentleman's interests. As it turns out, he is widely traveled (world-widely), and rather cunning in the fields of geology, cartography and topography. We talked for a few minutes about his favorite locations he had visited in the world. Among them were Anchorage, Alaska; Mazatlan, Mexico; and Rome, Italy. He was able to describe them in detail, and seemed to be sincere in his interest in them.


An interesting transformation occurred in him once we started talking about things he knew about. His demeanor became more serious, he took on an air of knowledge and spoke more soberly than he had thus far. At the conclusion of our transit we wished each other luck--He in his travels and I in my schooling.


I never got his name.