Hard to Ignore

I was sitting near the door of the BART train yesterday morning—just one stop away from the end of my trip—when the nastiest-smelling person came through the door across from me. She was dressed in long grey robe-like clothes and carelessly dropped several huge shopping bags which thudded down by the door. She grunted to the woman sitting beside the door to "Get out! Get out!" while gesticulating widely. The seated passenger slid over but still the newcomer continued her diatribe of rejection: "Get out!"

I concentrated hard on my book trying to avoid any kind of eye contact in case she might decide to give up on her chosen victim and come after the seat I was in. I wasn't so lucky.

She started gesturing and grunting in my direction but she really wasn't speaking very loudly—nor was she making any sudden moves my way—so I was able to sucessfully ignore her. The train soon began to slow and I was proud to get up out of my seat and quietly leave the train without having given in to the unreasonable demands of a crazy person.