Funny thing happened to me on the way to Bev's tonight.

I took the #36 bus, which Joe aptly refers to as the "side show" bus. It is a particulary fitting name, because this bus goes through some seedy parts of town, and you see a lot of action on the bus. Today's bit of action is worth blogging about.

The bus was passing through Little Saigon and stopped at Argyle Street. A woman gets on the bus with two plastic grocery bags, one is tied in a knot. She sits in the seats reserved for the handicapped and the elderly that face sideways in the front of the bus. One of her bags is dripping. Upon closer inspection, one could see that the shopping bag was moving by itself. While I sat, transfixed at the moving bag, I looked up at the woman, who was arranging her other bags on her lap. Then, in one instance, the bus stops short and she leans down to pick up one of her bags. While this is happening, something makes the moving bag fall to the ground with a huge SPLASH! And what do we see? An enormous catfish, a LIVE catfish squirming around on the floor. A child screams and puts her feet up on her chair and panic ensues as the woman tries to grab the fish and get it back in the bag.

Finally noticing that something was up, the bus driver pulls over and stops the bus. she comes over to see two woman chasing a slippery catfish all over her bus and starts to freak out. "what you are doing wid my busss?" people are getting grossed out as the smell of this nasty beast fills the hot bus. Finally, the woman grabs the fish by the throat and gets it into the bag. Miraculously, the fish is still struggling with no water in the bag at all. The woman puts her bags - both of them on her lap, turns around and faces front, no expression on her face. The driver stands there for a second, shaking her head at the mess. Within a minute everyone is back on their seat and the bus is on its way, only this time, it really reeks of fish.