Another afternoon at 12th and Jackson

I went up to the Saigon Deli to grab some lunch for myself and a couple of coworkers. Everything was normal until I left the deli. It was raining so I decided to catch a 7 down the hill. As I approached the bus stop I realized that I probably should have just walked.

It began with a woman, probably about 4 feet tall, of Asian decent. She was wearing a heavy coat the covered her entire body except her face. She looked up at me, "Do you know the time." "Yeah, sure," I reached for my phone. As I was getting it out she looked down the street and said, "shit", before turning away quickly. I turned to see a gentlemen approaching fast.

This man was probably in his early 40s sporting a five o'clock shadow at noon. He was wearing a pin stripped suit, the shirt of which was not tucked in. He went passed me with an intent look in his eyes and approached the woman. He loomed over her, as if to maximize his intimidation, as she quivered near the building. He spoke in a whisper but the look on his face indicated that his words were intense.

As this scene seemed to be coming to a head another man approached the area. I've seen him many times before and none of our encounters were ever pleasant (in the past he's accused me of being Satan). He's a middle aged Asian man with a beard that makes him look like some kind of monk. Today he was carrying a 7 foot long bamboo bo. As he walked up to the stop he was going back and forth between trying to vend copies of real change and performing some sort of martial art with the weapon. During this time he nearly hit an elderly woman in the face, who ran behind me, giving me a look that suggested she wanted my protection. The man then looked at me and simply said, "you..." before squinting his eyes and stationing himself within the bus shelter.
"Great," I thought to myself. And just as I was about to leave the situation I saw the 7 approach. Thank the maker.

At this point the man in the suit was still speaking to the woman he'd corned, however a new group of guys had shown up. They seemed to be siding with the woman and a shouting match broke out. None of what they were saying made any sense to me. It was English, just not coherent. This is when I figured whatever their problem was I was sure it had to do with drugs.

The bus arrived and many elderly people disembarked. This took some time. The man with the bo was standing right by the door, partially blocking their exit path. The bus driver noticed me standing a ways back and motioned to me that he'd opened the back door. I got onto the bus and sat down.

Then the man with the bo entered. He took notice of me sitting just before the articulation in the bus. As he walked by he squinted again and without warning made a motion that suggested he was going to strike me with his bo. He slammed the piece of bamboo into the metal vertical hand rails, the sound echo'd through the bus causing everyone to turn and investigate it's origin. He then bore his teeth in one of the most twisted smiles I'd ever seen, before moving all the way to the back of the bus and taking a seat.

3:21pm UPDATE: I completely forgot to mention that one of the people getting off the bus was a man in his early twenties with a jacket wrapped around his waste, pants hanging low (almost to his knees), wearing a g-string (exposed by his sagging pants) and a bright red bra stuffed with some thing flesh colored. Can't believe I forgot that part, it was pretty memorable.