Well played, Shawna.

[Carnation]

A middle aged guy got on the bus today.  He was carrying a teddy bear, that was wearing a cape.  It's name was Rocket.  He sat it down on the seat while he was paying his fare.  He said "Wait a second, Rocket."

Other than that, he didn't seem nutty at all.  He was clean and dressed appropriately, for the heat.

He sat on one of the side facing seats and noticed a 20 something girl sitting across the aisle.   He introduced her to Rocket. He was going to give Rocket to a friend's child.  So we all admired Rocket.  Admittedly, Rocket had a cool black and orange checked cape.

He asked the 20 something girl her name.  She was Shawna.   He was Charles. (He was 51, by his own admission)   She was a fitness trainer (she looked it, she was gorgeous).  He was a former Golden Gloves champ.   

At one point, he took out an hourglass egg timer and put it on Rocket's head and said it was a time machine.

This went on the entire trip, but at no time did Shawna lose control of the conversation.  She firmly but kindly kept her boundaries up.  Actually, he was fascinating to listen to, he talked about his job and the people he worked for.

And he kept offering her that teddy bear.  She said she didn't want to deprive his friend's child.

Finally, he asked if he could see her again.  She kindly, but firmly declined.

Mercifully the bus reached his stop and he disembarked.

After which, Shawna looked at me and we both had a "wow!" moment.   I told her she played that pretty well.

Smart girl, that Shawna.

[Curly Wurly Doggie Breath]

Shawna sounds like she is a true lady. Kind, firm in her boundaries, gentle to the welfare of others, all without being a doormat.

Well Done 

[lollylegs]

Agreed, Shawna is 100% class, but Charles  sounds like he'd liven up a dull bus ride!

[Carnation]

Agreed, Shawna is 100% class, but Charles  sounds like he'd liven up a dull bus ride!

He'd make a great entertainer. He certainly had charisma is a strange sort of way.

[Miss March]

I cynically think this man routinely rides the bus with Rocket and uses him as a great excuse to chat up the ladies!

[Shea]

I cynically think this man routinely rides the bus with Rocket and uses him as a great excuse to chat up the ladies!

Though most women are probably not going to be inclined to go out with a man who may or may not be a few sandwiches short of a picnic .

[One Goat to Rule Them All]

Kudos to her! My DH seems to attract this kind of conversation on buses, too.

The most recent was a woman who seemed to have a developmental disability of some kind. She had a stuffed clown fish. My DH related the conversation to me:

Woman: Do you like my fish? His name's "Nemo"
DH: Nemo? That's a funny name for a fish. It means "No one" in Greek
Woman:  .... His name's "Nemo"
DH: Cool!

I had to explain to him that there was a movie called "Finding Nemo" that had clown fish in it. He said "Oh. I thought it was a kind of random name name for a fish!" 

A few years ago a little girl sat across the isle from him (She was next to her sister and near her mum)

Little girl: Wanna see what I have in my hand?
DH: sure!
Little girl (opening her hand) It's a worm!!
DH: Wow, it sure is! are you going to put him in your garden etc. etc.
The girl's sister was mortified that A) Her sister had a worm on the bus, and B) that she was showing it to random strangers, but my DH got a kick out if it!

I don't know why he gets all the fun people on the bus! I ride it way more than he does!

[CrazyDaffodilLady]

I like the concept of an egg timer as a time machine.  You turn it on, and when it finishes, you're three minutes in the future.

[PitBullMom]

I like the concept of an egg timer as a time machine.  You turn it on, and when it finishes, you're three minutes in the future.

I have nothing to add, but this made me ROFLOL!!   

[Larrabee]

Was this the same bus that Elvis was on?  If it was I want to move to where you live!

[mrkitty]

I like the concept of an egg timer as a time machine.  You turn it on, and when it finishes, you're three minutes in the future.

I have nothing to add, but this made me ROFLOL!!   

I wonder how many people's lives would drastically change (for the better) if an egg timer time machine could be invented that could move a person back three minutes into the past....

[Diane AKA Traska]

I like the concept of an egg timer as a time machine.  You turn it on, and when it finishes, you're three minutes in the future.

I have nothing to add, but this made me ROFLOL!!   

I wonder how many people's lives would drastically change (for the better) if an egg timer time machine could be invented that could move a person back three minutes into the past....

Three minutes is all I need for most "I want a time machine" uses.  How many times have you agonized over whether to tell someone something painful?  Well, if it goes south quickly, POP.

[Gyburc]

Well played indeed! 

I hope you don't mind me chiming in, but this reminded me of something very similar that happened to me, and I don't think I handled it nearly so well... sorry, it's a long story...

I was on the bus going home from work, and a young man got on and sat next to me. He seemed very agitated about something, and after a couple of minutes started talking at me.

We were on the bus for 40 minutes, and he did.  not. stop. talking. once. He was from Bangladesh, and he chattered away at me about Bangladeshi cooking, Bangladeshi fish and other wildlife, the comparative merits of being chased by an Asian lion compared to an African lion, why male lions have manes, why some Muslim men should wear beards and others don't need to, why arranged marriages are much more convenient than dating, the comparative merits of various religious beliefs...

He kept asking me what I thought. I did my best to beandip, but honestly, he wasn't listening to the answers. 

It turned out that he worked for a Bangladeshi restaurant in one of the local villages. He usually worked in the kitchen, but because of a big event being held that night, he had been asked to work as a waiter. He had never done it before, and he was really really nervous (hence the speed-talking). In addition, there was no bus that went to the village he had to get to, so he was going to meet someone who would drive him the rest of the way. He was really concerned that the bus would be late and he'd miss his lift.

The problem was that he was going to get off in my village, and was actually going to meet the driver in my street, and asked directions how to get there. I had deliberately not told him that I actually lived there, because he was behaving so oddly, and I knew that if I now disclosed that I actually lived on MyStreet, he would ask me why I hadn't said so earlier. And I really couldn't think of an appropriate answer.

So we got off the bus (all the other passengers were giving me sympathetic grins, and I had to try really hard not to laugh), and I told him how to get to MyStreet the usual way... and then ran off like a coward via the little-known short-cut to try to avoid bumping into him at the other end. I succeeded, fortunately. 

[Betelnut]

Kudos to her! My DH seems to attract this kind of conversation on buses, too.

The most recent was a woman who seemed to have a developmental disability of some kind. She had a stuffed clown fish. My DH related the conversation to me:

Woman: Do you like my fish? His name's "Nemo"
DH: Nemo? That's a funny name for a fish. It means "No one" in Greek
Woman:  .... His name's "Nemo"
DH: Cool!

I had to explain to him that there was a movie called "Finding Nemo" that had clown fish in it. He said "Oh. I thought it was a kind of random name name for a fish!" 


I don't know why he gets all the fun people on the bus! I ride it way more than he does!

Actually, Nemo is even less random than that as it is the name of the Captain in Jules Verne's 20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.   I'm pretty sure that's where the name from the movie came from!

[exitzero]

Reminds me of the time I got stuck on bus in a traffic jam...took about an 1 hour to go 5 miles, but no one on the bus was upset because a lovely, well-dressed, well-spoken man got on the bus and regaled everyone with his stories about how he worked as a spy for the United Nations and all the cities he had travelled in. Everyone was respectful, no one called him out when his stories contradicted each other or just plain didn't make any sense. Apparently, this spy business makes millions of dollars, so why he was on bus I have no idea.

Everyone was sad when he got off the bus. It was just a plain old bus ride after that.