A Legend of a Ride

The true story I am about to tell is one of heart pounding excitement, sadness and pride.

Act 1:

After a delicious Newtown Thai meal and a windy walk to the bus stop, burrr, Joaquin and I boarded the bus home. The bus was pretty full, and there were no available seats so we stood near the rear exit. We passed a few stops when a man who had been sitting at the back (I'll call him Man 1 - - picture scruffy, spends time on the streets drinking too much alcohol, dirty hands, missing teeth, might talk to himself - - ) walked toward the rear door. He noticed a Indian man (Man 2 - - 20-30's who looked as if he was on his way home from a long day at the office) sitting near the door.

Act 2:

Man 1 notices Man 2 and starts mumbling. Man 2 ignores Man 1 and continues to look out the window. Man 1 doesn't like Man 2 ignoring him so he starts spitting racial slurs. "racial slur"
Man 2 continues to ignore as does the woman stranger sitting between Man 2 and the standing Man 1. Man 1 goes for it again, this time louder "RaCiAl SlUr + grating taunt + hand gesture"
Joaquin and I pick up on what is happening and look at each other in disbelief.
The bus keeps rolling along and Man 1 does not give up, he leans over toward the face of Man 2 and says "RACIAL SLUR" No one on the bus moves, not man 2, not the woman sitting next to Man 2, not 2/3 of the people riding the bus who are now aware of what is happening. No one says anything to Man 1...except for Joaquin.
He turns to the man and says "Hey, why don't you shut the f**** up?"

Act 3:

Man 1's attention is now off Man 2 and on to Joaquin. He starts yelling at Joaquin "Why don't you mind your own business?" Joaquin quickly points out that Man 1 himself wasn't minding his own business by yelling at Man 2.
A seat opens up near us and Joaquin and I scoot into it. Man 1 begins mocking Joaquin in a whiny voice, repeating to himself "why don't you shut the f*** up, why don't you shut the f*** up, I'll punch you in the mouth, you mother f." I am looking straight into Man 1's eyes, glaring at him, holding my breath because I am also on the verge of saying something. I glare and hope that he feels judged. In attempt to ignore Man 1, we try to continue our conversation (me: staring, Joaquin: looking forward), the doors of the bus open and as Man 1 is exiting he slaps the back of Joaquin's head.

Act 4:

At this moment, and it is a very quick moment, Joaquin gets out of his seat and helps Man 1 out the door with a shove. Man 1 lunges back on the bus with a swing and miss. Joaquin pushes Man 1 out of the bus again as I yell to the driver to close the doors and drive... nothing happens. Man 1 gets back on the bus taunting Joaquin to get off the bus for a full on brawl, some additional voices have joined in my plea to the driver as an older woman says loudly "I need to get off" (why she didn't turn around, take 7 steps and use the front doors makes me want to do something a bit more aggressive than take away her daily scone) and the driver again does nothing. Joaquin finally pushes Man 1 to the ground the woman asks in a crackly voice "it is safe to get off the bus now" she exits, the driver closes the doors and continues his drive.

Act 5:

As soon as the bus moves there are some cheers from the back of the bus and a young woman shouts "YOU ARE A LEGEND" (she said it again a few stops later as she exited the bus).

Man 2 got out of his seat to exit and asked Joaquin "are you ok?"
Joaquin: "Yeah, I am fine"
Man 2: "I am really sorry about that"
Joaquin: "I am sorry too."
Man 2: "Well, thank you."

And all of a sudden the bus is as normal as always, chugging along to the rhythm of the stops and starts while my heart was pounding. It was pounding with adrenalin from the incident and pounding with pride. It is hard for me to believe that no one else stood up for Man 2 on the bus, especially when Joaquin stepped in. Everyone just listened to their Ipods, read their books, looked out the window and pretended to ignore an incident that should never be ignored.

The optimistic Buckogirl hopes that, like myself, other people were inspired by Joaquin's courage to speak up and in the future will not be frozen by our own self-interest.

Cheers to Joaquin - - - this one is all yours. clink.