A woman was already in the front seat. There were two more in the back.
Him: Where’r you going?
Me: (Not wanting to squish in the back) No no! I’m alright! Thank you!
Him: Come! Come in! (Turns to woman in front seat). Get in the back! (Turns to me) Come!
As I get in the front seat, the woman in the back start yelling excitedly.
The driver asks them where they want to be let off. And they yell ‘wherever you want! Throw us out!’
He lets two of them out at the corner.
Him: Are you in a rush? Do you have a second for us to make a quick stop?
Me: Yea that’s fine.
We drive for about three minutes until we stop…
… In front of a Nargila store.
And the taxi driver’s wife in I wait in the car while the driver buys a new Hookah pipe.
Because hookah is important.
This is Moshe.
On this particular bus, 7 men got stuck in the back.
Two girls and I are sitting on the floor because by the time we arrived for the bus, there was standing room only.
These girls are on their cell phones. Chilling. Totally chilling.
Next to them is one chassidic woman fervently saying psalms and one chassidic woman listening to something on her headphones.
The baby behind them is being held by her father, who is sitting next to her mother, who has, on her lap, another child.
The guy in the back center is playing in his old Nokia phone. Maybe acquired due to affordability. Maybe due to the desire to remain separate from the secular world.
Soon, the man on the right is sleeping on the shoulder of the man in the center while the man in the center has an intense conversation with the bearded man on his left.
And a girl gets up to give her seat to someone older and the two girls on the floor and I are talking. I offer them gum which they refuse and they offer me sour sticks which I accept (because, sour sticks).
And then I feel something fall on my head and it is a piece of Bissli, the popular Israeli chip thing.
Because the girl next to me is munching away.
A child cries.
A cell phone rings in the tune of a chassidic melody.
This is an average intercity bus ride.
Him: Taste this.
Me: I’m good.
Him: Just a little taste!
Me: No, thank you. I’ve already eaten so much today!
Him: (shrugs) Tasting is not eating.
This is the boy working at the spice stall who dreams of backpacking through America.
Me: How’s it going?
Him: Thank G-d.
(Pause)
Him: I woke up today. I have air in my lungs. Everything else is a bonus.
Me: Wow. What a deep answer for the 10 in the morning.
Him: Of course. These things are not to be assumed. Just look at the things happening in the world now. It’s not to be taken for granted.
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