reality bites
Feb. 6th, 2008 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ironymaideni ride the bus to work every day. mostly i read while i ride, but i do a good bit of people watching, making up stories about the other people who are regulars on my route. (sometimes i worry. i haven't seen the homeless couple that gets on at Dravus for a while. i hope we're just on different schedules or they've found a better place to stay.)
my favorite bus riders are a father-son pair. they don't ride every day or every week, but they ride with some regularity. Dad has some job that requires a suit, the son is four maybe, very small but sure of his feet and a confident bus rider. i'm usually more interested in strangers' dogs than strangers' kids, but this boy is whip-smart. Dad reads books aloud to him from my stop (where they get on) to wherever they go beyond where i get off. they have detailed conversations that are pretty high level for the kid's size. Dad's suit doesn't fit great, and it isn't the best fabric. he totes some kind of document carrier, from which he produces the story books. i've always imagined that he was a public defender; someone who needs the suit and the docs but doesn't make as much money as he could. the boy's clothes are meticulous and new or maybe quality hand-me-downs, he has a good haircut.
sometimes i imagine that Dad shares the duty of ferrying boy to daycare with his wife, who makes more money and has a morning meeting some days. Dad is a good and attentive parent because that is the right thing to do, and he shares responsibility equally with his wife, who is also awesome and bought the boy the science picture books. sometimes i imagine that Dad is a widower who has rearranged his career around being a single parent, and this has Changed His Life In Rewarding Ways.
today i learned that the boy is named Ollie. i like to think that means he is Oliver, which is a good name. too bad about the nickname, but people feel the need to make small people more diminutive.
i also learned that he would be going to stay at his mother's house after daycare tonight, and that Dad would see him again in a few days. so now Dad is diminished and tired because he is lonely, his money goes to child support, and he is the Best Dad Evar because he only sees his son on the odd day every now and again and wants to make sure he doesn't screw this up like his marriage. aaaaargh.
my favorite bus riders are a father-son pair. they don't ride every day or every week, but they ride with some regularity. Dad has some job that requires a suit, the son is four maybe, very small but sure of his feet and a confident bus rider. i'm usually more interested in strangers' dogs than strangers' kids, but this boy is whip-smart. Dad reads books aloud to him from my stop (where they get on) to wherever they go beyond where i get off. they have detailed conversations that are pretty high level for the kid's size. Dad's suit doesn't fit great, and it isn't the best fabric. he totes some kind of document carrier, from which he produces the story books. i've always imagined that he was a public defender; someone who needs the suit and the docs but doesn't make as much money as he could. the boy's clothes are meticulous and new or maybe quality hand-me-downs, he has a good haircut.
sometimes i imagine that Dad shares the duty of ferrying boy to daycare with his wife, who makes more money and has a morning meeting some days. Dad is a good and attentive parent because that is the right thing to do, and he shares responsibility equally with his wife, who is also awesome and bought the boy the science picture books. sometimes i imagine that Dad is a widower who has rearranged his career around being a single parent, and this has Changed His Life In Rewarding Ways.
today i learned that the boy is named Ollie. i like to think that means he is Oliver, which is a good name. too bad about the nickname, but people feel the need to make small people more diminutive.
i also learned that he would be going to stay at his mother's house after daycare tonight, and that Dad would see him again in a few days. so now Dad is diminished and tired because he is lonely, his money goes to child support, and he is the Best Dad Evar because he only sees his son on the odd day every now and again and wants to make sure he doesn't screw this up like his marriage. aaaaargh.
