Strange people on public buses

Was on my way to pick up a fax at a magazine I do work for and had one
of these Nutter On the Bus experiences. The nutter was cheerful but
clearly in an upwardly altered state of mind. He had adopted a man in
one of the front seats as his temporary best friend and was flailing his
long arms and legs around the aisle explaining in blurred double-time
detail what he had said to someone who had asked for his last five
dollars. The guy taking the brunt of this looked pretty glassy-eyed
himself but was doing the sensible brunt-guy thing: just nodding vaguely
from time to time, the minimum to avoid seeming rude.

Nutter pulled the cord to get off the bus at the side door but at the
last moment found more things to say and didn't open the door, so the
bus went on with him still aboard. It happened again at the next stop.
At the third stop he found his way as far as the front steps and the
driver asked if he was getting off. Nutter gave a "don't worry about
me..." speech to the driver and finally backed his way down the steps.

After which I put down my NYRB (interesting review -- see
<http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16902>) and looked at the brunt guy
with an eyebrow up and we laughed about it for a couple of stops until I
got out. Two blocks later I was in the Financial District looking at the
Schwab company's sign with the digital readout on the stock market
closing.

This is a weirdly jumbled town.

Looks like Robbie has been having odd public transit experiences too per
his 1/28 entry: <http://robbie.journalspace.com/>. If he's reading this,
he might want to try some canned anchovies in that mushroom sauce next
time.

/M