The Longest Day

I may moan and complain about it, but I really do like riding the bus. Especially when I'm days behind in my Tehillim reading. What I can do without is the requisite crazy black man and a subway so crowded I could not breathe.

When I ride the bus to my intern site, I have to leave the house by 5 am. Even daylight saving time has no effect on 5 am. Since this is the first day since the time change that I rode the bus so early, I was amazed to find that near journey's end, I got a chance to watch the sunrise.

Sounds romantic, doesn't it? But it wasn't. It was blinding. So I fumbled around in my purse to find my sunglasses in time to get off at my stop. The weather was mild, I was wearing serious layers, and I couldn't be happier.

Truth is, I could have been happier. Sleeping in bed. But alas, that was not meant to be. The journey home took as long, the first leg of which had two rather piggish young ladies sitting right behind me downing McDonald's and licking their lips for 20 minutes. I actually got nauseous.

The next leg of the trip involved the Blue Line, a wonderful above ground train that I really enjoy. But by that time it was pitch dark. I lamented having to ride the train both ways in the dark because it's the only train I ride where I actually get a view of the city.

The Blue Line meets the Red Line, and at 5:45 pm it's pretty crowded. Today was an exception: it was really really crowded. I chose to get off at a closer stop because I could not breathe. That choice put me in contact with the crazy black guy.

Talk about hysterical. He was higher than a kite, and laughing real loud, whopping it up. The driver had to tell him to be quiet over and over again, and since he wanted to go in the other direction anyway, she kept telling him to get out. But he was sweet, and he was funny, and it was the perfect way to end, at that time, a 13-hour day.

The longest day.