The thing that put me in mind of it unfortunately is slightly dark. I’ve been thinking about how much the strength of tyrants is based on compliance, and how restricted our capacity for resistance is when we’re not sure others will join us. Don’t worry, I’ll square this narrative circle.
So, to begin with, there was no chicken. I was coming back to Upper Darby from the city, and I had a gigantic tray of baklava and a bunch of potted plants I intended to decorate my classroom with. I intended to get on the 42, but as fate had it I missed it, so I got on the 21 instead.
At 49th, this man and woman get on, and they’re arguing. They seem like they know each other, and everyone already on the bus’s eyes fall on them. They’re yelling, and suddenly the man hits or pushes the woman, and she’s on the ground.
I’m sitting in the very, very back of the bus, and I gasp too, and just feel time slow down. At first I do the same as everyone else. I just sit there assessing what’s going to happen next.
The man grabs the woman by the scruff of her shirt and her hair and starts to pull her off the bus.
All this probably took seconds, but it felt like an eternity. And in the slowed down time, I saw no gun. So I got up, placed my houseplants and baklava gently on the seat next to me, and said in a loud voice, “ Hey! He’s unarmed! There’s more of us than there are of him! Let’s go!”
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This is a video clip from the night I found her.
Audible gasp from the whole bus.
The man grabs the woman by the scruff of her shirt and her hair and starts to pull her off the bus.