More misadventures in public transportation
Kip and I had a conversation this morning about the crazy, fun people riding public transportation. He told me his story, which was so nicely posted below.
I have a similar story, with Jesus involved and everything.
I’ve spent the last two years living in Oakland, Calif., not really the Mecca of public transportation. Sure, there’s BART -- Bay Area Rapid Transit -- and looking at the history of DART, I can fairly say the name is ripped off – and the city buses.
I often took the bus the 2.4 miles to school because parking was not only horribly expensive at UC Berkeley ($300 a semester) but after paying the price, I wasn’t guaranteed a spot.
My event happened in spring 2006 when I boarded the bus not far from my home. Two stops later, a man gets on and sits next to me. He should have probably observed the “if no one else is on the bus you should sit two seats over policy” but he didn’t.
Halfway down Telegraph Avenue, which stretches from Oakland to the campus, he looks over at me and says: “My name is Jesus.”
“That’s nice,” I respond.
“No, my name is Jesus Christ. I am the savior,” he clarified.
Who knew getting on a city bus could place me next to someone of such divine presence?
He proceeded to tell me that my soul would be saved if I gave him $2 to get a ride on the BART across the bay into San Francisco. He said it was his pilgrimage and his father, God, was testing him. He’d been trying to get across the bay for two years.
I didn’t have the money. He scolded me and got up and went on to tell his story to another passenger. Someone finally gave him some cash, though I later realized that his problem may have been math more than anything else. It costs more than $2 to take BART from the East Bay to San Francisco.
Thanks Kip…the memories are all flooding back now.
Comments
That whole carpentry thing must not have worked out for him if he couldn't muster $2.
Posted by: Ross Taylor | June 26, 2007 2:27 PM
Yeah, he's not very omniscient either if it takes more than $2 to travel across the bay.
Posted by: Kip | June 26, 2007 3:10 PM
Wait, couldn't he walk on water?
I'm beginning to think that this wasn't really Christ at all.
Aww, man! I was going to try to hunt him down and get him to sign a baseball or something!
Posted by: Josh Davis | June 26, 2007 3:52 PM
I wonder if he was testing the city during the "Earthquake Series" of 1989...
Posted by: Kip | June 26, 2007 4:33 PM
reminds me of one time in London riding the Tube when a woman sang (well screeched) "Hit Me Baby One More Time" at the top of her lungs for 20 minutes (AT LEAST) only pausing briefly to kiss/lick her pit bull & rant about how her husband was jailed b/c the police were racist. . . she finally exited cursing in Patois (A Jamaican Dialect) which was highly interesting b/c she was Caucasian w/ a british accent. . . you meet the most interesting types on public transportation. . .
Posted by: michelle saunders | June 26, 2007 4:41 PM
reminds me of one time in London riding the Tube when a woman sang (well screeched) "Hit Me Baby One More Time" at the top of her lungs for 20 minutes (AT LEAST) only pausing briefly to kiss/lick her pit bull & rant about how her husband was jailed b/c the police were racist. . . she finally exited cursing in Patois (A Jamaican Dialect) which was highly interesting b/c she was Caucasian w/ a british accent. . . you meet the most interesting types on public transportation. . .
Posted by: michelle saunders | June 26, 2007 4:45 PM
I gave up and took the train to work today, because, again, people in Dallas cannot drive in rain. I read a book, listened to my Ipod, drank my coffee, and ignored the smelly man in the seat in front of me who was trying to ask me if I knew Jesus, or Jesse Jackson, personally. He then broke into a rousing rendition of "Jesus Loves Me," until another homeless person threw a carton of milk at him. Hairy Smelly Homeless Singing Man then took exception to that, and proceeded to pull out a license plate from his backpack and hit the other homeless guy over the head with it.
Then I had to get off the train, because it was my stop. LOL I've no idea if the brouhaha got more heated, or what other instruments of death Hairy Smelly Homeless Singing Man had in his backpack. I almost wanted to stay on the train to watch some more, but I realized that I would be late for work, and there's just something kind of wrong about watching the homeless in a cage fight.
Posted by: Michelle Anderson | June 27, 2007 12:24 PM
Anybody else thinking that there is a book to be written on those trains? I've never riden, but suddenly I feel like I'm missing out on some of the greatest story material of our time.
If we can do a story on "Adventures from the DART Rail," I call dibs.
Posted by: Josh Davis | June 28, 2007 10:54 AM