fight in a via

It's been a long (but good) day.

My knee is hurting.

My feet are on fire.

My back aches.

But I both walked (about 10 miles, over 20,000 steps) and sold a lot.

I'm anxious to get home.

I text a Via; it'll arrive in two minutes. Perfect.

I get to the corner of 50th and Madison.There's a small group of people standing there.

The Via car comes, and is filled with one person in the front seat, two in the back, and an empty (undesirable) two seats in the rear.

Without asking, one woman in the middle section generously moves to the back to let me in. So nice of her, though I think how awkward it'd be to have to hobble to the rear with my aching everything.

As we are about to pull away, there's a knock on the window. Apparently one of the people in the small group was also waiting for this Via. A witch of a woman, as it turns out.

I get out to let her in.

"Can you move to the back?" she asks in a demanding tone.

Really? I'm already sitting in the second row. Why should I be the very uncomfortable rider when I'm already seated?  I'm not as nice as the young woman who had moved for me.

"No," I respond.

"You are a wretched woman," she says.  "You do this every time."  I don't remember ever having ridden with her before, but I suppose it's possible.

And so she clumsily climbs to the back and keeps on berating me.

"You're so rude. I was at the stop before you. You should let me ride int he middle," and on and on.

I ignore her and the car quiets.

At the next stop, the three other passengers get out, and one (the one that actually climbed to the back, unasked, for me) turns to me and says, "She's nuts."

I get back in the car.

"Is your next stop 79th and First?" I ask the driver.

But the woman jumps in before the driver has a chance to respond.

"No; it's 78th and First. Just relax. You are so obnoxious," shouts the witchy woman.

I can't help myself.  "Even the other riders think you're crazy. Just stop talking to me," I tell her.

She starts going on more now. About how awful I am. How rude. How a lot of other unkind things.

We approach 78th and I say to the driver, "I can get out here as well."

"Now you're trying to take over my stop," she shouts.

After a long day all I want is a quick and quiet ride home.  Today, anyway, that's not what I got.