1.03.2006

The people on the bus part 3

There is a man who rides the bus, I don't know his real name, he's never told me. I affectionately call him "the crazy man". The crazy man is is turning 61 next Monday, so he informed me today. I can't believe he'll be 61! When I moved here he was not yet 60. It's amazing how quickly time goes by. I met him when I was still living in the first apartment, although Micheal had told me about him before. He must have dementia among other mental disorders as the first time Micheal met him he came into Radio Shack and told Micheal it was his birthday. He was turning 5, or so he claimed and he was at the store to pick out a birthday present. The thing he bought was a toy of some kind. That must have been his 59th birthday.
I met him later that year when he took the bus from my stop near the apartment. We had only recently moved to the apartment and it was the first time I'd seen him. He told me that I was at the wrong bus stop as the high schoolers got the bus on the other side of the street. I asked him how old he thought I was and he told me 15. I told him I was 21 and he didn't believe me, he told me how young I looked and how pretty I was. I've since seen him with his mother and heard all about his family. It seems he was adopted into a large family of 13 or so. He is the oldest of his siblings and cherishes his mother very much, although recently I haven't seen her around much. I sincerely hope she's okay.
He's the sweetest old man though, despite all his mental illnesses. I thought about staying on the bus for another stop so I could get off with him, invite him to coffee and hear about his life. But I thought in doing so I may seem like the "crazy blonde kid" to him and so I didn't. Perhaps next time...

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