The crazy lady²⁹

Today the funniest thing happened when I was race-walking on 150th Street. On my way back, at about the 300-metre mark, a gentleman grabbed my elbow and said, “I have got to talk to you.”

I thought, “O God, he is going to complain about the 300-metre mark on the street.” That is the famous mark that a German lady has given us so much trouble about.

But the gentleman didn’t mention the mark. He told me that his wife had gone crazy. He said, “You see the bus stop over there? She does not want to stand there. She wants the bus to stop for her about 40 metres away, not where the bus is supposed to stop. Three times the bus passed her but the drivers didn’t stop, although she waved her hand and screamed.”

He told me that the fourth time a bus was coming, to draw the bus driver’s attention he stood in the street in front of the bus. The bus driver stopped and insulted and scolded him. While the bus was stopped, his wife entered into the bus.

I asked, “Now where is she going?”

He said, “She is going shopping.”

I said, “How do you know she will not do some crazy thing while she is away? How do you know she will not stand at some place and expect the bus driver to stop for her?”

I gave him my very sympathetic ear, and he felt that I really was sorry for him. But he had faith in her and felt she would come back.