says who?

This morning, I left for work as usual. I walked out my door and a few blocks down to where I pick up the bus. Some days I walk (it’s a 10-15 minute walk to the metro), some days, if I see the bus coming (like today), I will stand and wait for it. Last night on my way home, my metro card went negative, so I used exact change on the bus, rather than swiping my smart trip card. I got on the bus and walked back and grabbed the pole. As I did, a woman stood up from her seat and offered it to me. I politely thanked her and declined, as I am only on the bus for a few minutes and didn’t need to sit. She complimented me on my coat. I thanked her. She then asked me if I could help her out. Now realizing where all of this was going, I apologized and said I had no change. I even went so far to say that I had just put all my change into the meter when getting on the bus, to pay my fare. She began to mutter under her breath, as they always do, and I said nothing back.

Quickly, she began talking about the Bible. She talked about how the Bible says “thou shall not steal.” From there, she asked what people who have nothing are supposed to do, because when you have nothing, you have to steal, in order to get something. This woman was standing behind me at this point, she hadn’t sat back down.

There was another woman who was sitting to my right, up a row or two from where I was. She (along with everyone else on the bus) could hear this lady and replied to her saying “you need to learn to help yourself.” This was all that the first lady needed. The two of them began to go back and forth about who helps who out and whose responsibility it is. Lady 1 clearly expected a handout, while lady 2 repeatedly said that you are your own primary responsibility and nobody else’s. This is where it began to get ugly.

I am not sure where it came from, but lady 1 then began threatening lady 2, saying she’d shoot her with her gun and kill her. Lady 2 laughed, saying that would never happen, only encouraging lady 1, who then went on and on about shooting her and then stabbing her repeatedly, to be sure she was dead. Lady 1 even swore on her mother's grave that she'd get lady 2.

By now, they were both speaking loudly and the entire bus was listening to the conversation. Most people, including the bus driver, were actually laughing at the exchange. Me? I was a bit nervous. Maybe it seems silly of me, but really? How was I to know that either lady, or anyone else, didn’t have a gun or a knife in their bag? They could have easily pulled it out and things would have gotten far worse. I was standing between the two, so if either lunged at the other, there I was.

My thoughts, as I got off the bus and headed to the Eastern Market metro, was why didn’t anyone say something to either of them? Granted, yes, I stayed silent, but should someone say something? Should the bus driver asked one or both of them to get off the bus? Would you have said something?

I was glad I got off the bus when I did, but the 90 bus has a long ride down 8th St. into Anacostia…