Cathy and I had been dating only a short time. so you can imagine how important it was for me to present myself at my most charming and witty self.
We left the agency one typical drippy Seattle evening and stepped aboard the local bus, headed for my apartment and a quiet dinner together. The bus was packed. The driver looked at me, turned around to the elderly lady sitting behind him with her lap full of packages and snapped, "Stand up and let the blind man sit down".
The old woman struggled to her feet. I said, "No, please sit down. I'm used to standing." She wearily sank back to the seat.
"Lady!" shouted the driver, "Get out of that seat and let the blind man sit."
Up she bobbed again and shuffled away from the seat.
I was seething. This was exactly what I did not want Cathy to see happen. So I turned to her and said, "Why don't you sit down?" Of course she would never have done that, but the driver heard me and slammed on the breaks, flung open the door and shut the bus down.
"Sit down or I'll call the police," he shouted.
Now at this point I wish I could tell you all that I turned calmly to him and recited the laws that said I was not required to sit.
Instead I leaned into his face and shouted, "Then call the cops because I'm not sitting down."
Then I heard a dull rumble. A growling sound moving forward from the back of the packed bus. These were tired working folks headed home to their dinners and families. They had no care about whether a blind man sat or stood. They just wanted that bus to roll down the road.
I turned to Cathy and said, "Let's get off." she agreed.
Later, after a letter writing campaign, I was sent an apology from the head of Metro, along with a check for my cab fare and a notice that had been circulated to all transit drivers restating the rules regarding blind passengers. But they only reprimanded the driver. Seriously, I had demanded that they fire the SOB. Oops! I'm getting worked up again after all these 30 years.
Curious Carl
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