Photo by Flickr user maveric2003
The word ‘heartwarming’ and the 91 Owl can so rarely be used in the same sentence that when they can, the story must be told.
A few years ago I was riding the 91 Owl outbound towards 19th Ave SOBER (my first mistake) around 2 a.m. So what plesant surprise greets me as I step aboard this packed to the gills, designated driver mobile disguised as a public transit vehicle? A 20-man strong, singing at the top of their lungs, British rugby team, ‘natch.
Now I like a British accent just as much as the next easily impressed girl, but these aholes must have lost their match that day ’cause they were on a bender of angry drunk, the likes of which I haven’t seen in a long time.
After about 10 minutes of a mind-numbing tribute to the old country (as I imagined it to be because I couldn’t understand an effing word they were saying) and after the driver (who I was standing next to) yelled repeatedly that if they didn’t stop she was going to pull the bus over and throw them all out, I possibly let out something along the lines of, oh… “shut the fuck up” slip out (possibly my second mistake).
Definitely a bad call to open my fat mouth because for the next 10 minutes I was constantly berated with things like ‘shut up bitch’ and ‘she must be on the rag’. (Honestly mostly offended by the lack of creativity- seriously, ‘the rag’? Who are you, my grandma?) Anywho, I couldn’t take it anymore and at the next stop I said, ‘Thats it! Let me the fuck out of here!’ When the door opened I jumped out somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the Inner Sunset.
That’s when my guardian angel disguised as a Muni bus driver lady came to my rescue.
She puts the bus in park, gets out of her seat, goes down the stairs after me, into the street, and starts yelling, ‘NO! You get back on this bus right now! There is no way I’m leaving you out here all alone. Don’t let them upset you! I’m taking where you need to go!’
My heart melted because of this woman and I had to restrain myself from giving her a big ol’ bear hug. So we get back on, some people on the bus applaud (swear the Christ- it is the original street theatre, after all) and the guys get off two stops later and life is peaceful again.
But I will always love that driver lady. She could have just driven off and left me there to walk my self-rightous ass home, but she wasn’t havin’ it. Thank you brave Owl lady, wherever you are…
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