So I've been working graveyard shift again. I don't know about other parts of the country but gas prices has rose to almost $5 a gallon here in Los Angeles....and Thunderbolt as a gas guzzling SUV has been hard on the wallet so while workign graveyard I've taken to riding public transportation....with the hopes of continuing to do so when I go back on day shift.
Now that the background has been put in place, I can tell tonight's story.
I raced to the "subway" (it's actually above ground) station to catch the 9pm train to Downtown LA. I swipe my TAP card and walk up the platform's ramp. There's not many people on the platform, but there's four people near where I like to wait for the train. There's a guy with his bike standing off to himself with earbuds. Not more than four steps passed him there's three youngsters sitting on the bench, two guys and one girl but the girl is actually sitting in one guy's lap.....which made it look like it was only two people sitting on the bench until you got close enough. No big deal, I've seen similar scenes before.
I stop about five feet away from the trio to wait for the train as I adjust my jacket.
"Hey, are you a registered voter?" asks the guy with the lap that's empty except for a clipboard.
I hesitate to respond...not really wanting to be bother. "Yeah, I am."
"Would you like to sign this pettition?" The kid holds up the clipboard towards me from where he is sitting.
I instantly regret having identified myself as a registered voter, but I move on. "Well, what is it for?"
"It's for [mumble, mumble - blah blah blah,]" he says still holding the clipboard out to me.
Okay so sometimes I am hard of hearing So I don't know if he was really inarticulate with what he was saying or if I just was having a deaf moment, so I don't really know the point of the pettition. I figure I'd save us both a headache, "Naw, man I'm not interested."
The kid flips a page on his clipboard then says, "Well, what about this one that decrease taxes for eduaction?"
Damn. I was I should've known there was another one. Lower taxes and promoting education....I ought to help. After a couple seconds of indecisiveness I ask, "what you say that one is about again?"
I guess we both were having issues with this exchance because the kid looks down at the paper with a slightly confused expression on his face. A split second later the confusion is gone and replaced with annoyance ashe stands up and walks over to me. "It's to reduce taxes for education."
As he hands me the clipboard I am also hit with the pungent odor of weed. I'm not a fan of the stuff but to each his own. I look up and there's a train starting to pull into the station. I guess the kid sees something in my face as I notice the train to cause him some concern of not getting my signature. "Yo, your train is coming." Maybe he thought that pointing out the train would push me to sign withtout reading the pettition, so I wouldn't miss it.
I see the distance train is and estimate how much time I had before it would leave again. I figured I could skim the summary and scribble my name even if that meant doing so while hanging out the train doors for a second or two to finish. So I look down at the pettition and see a block of text. I look for the beginning of the paragraph to read as much as I could in the time I had left. The first line read:
Increases personal taxes......I was disappointed and didn't want to read anymore, "Ah man it says it Increases taxes....I'm good, but thanks." I hand him back the pettition. The kid looks at me like he's upset that I could read and saw the error of what he had told me. I look away and look to see how much longer before the train stops, only to see that the sign on the train says it is out of service. The train continues without stopping. The kid walks away and sits back on the bench with his friends.
I take a few steps to the other side of the platform. As I'm sending Schehimazade a text about a kid wanting my signature for a pettition but was too high to explain what the pettition is for, the kid gets up while his friends get on the train going in the opposite direction....the last text I send Schehimazade;
...he has a nice ass too...lol he might have got the signature if he wasn't sitting on it when he first asked me.Yeah I know, I'm a journey like no other.
Sincerely,
Pharoah
As I'm exchanging texts with Schehimazade, a train going in the opposite direction arrives and the
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