The Brothers Weird

It is brisk this morning, around 45, and a big departure from the near-60-degree mark it’s been every other morning this week. Oh well. It is the last day of winter. Go ahead, Ole Man Winter, give it your best shot.

The temperature change is due in part to a storm front that rolled through last night. I took S, my bus buddy, to Wal-Mart with me last night. By the time I got her home, the sky was darkening up and the wind was beginning to blow. I hurried home, afraid I’d be dodging drops any second as the sky lit up with lightning and rumbled with thunder. But I was lucky.
I’d probably been inside a good five minutes before the rain started.

It’s been fun to confuse the bus driver these past few mornings by not boarding at my usual stop. (Tonight is grocery store night.) He’ll be really baffled when I do get on at home tomorrow!
This used to be a fairly empty bus with me being one of about four regular passengers. This week, we’ve had two or three times that every day.

Among the passengers are the Brothers Weird. They're twin brothers, 35-45, who clearly have some issues. They mutter to themselves and talk to each other in a language that only vaguely resembles English. I call them Weird and Weirder. Weirder is a carbon copy of Weird, except that his face is gaunt and his features pulled tight. And sometimes, Weird has a mustache. Today, however is clean-shaven. The other key difference is that Weirder has a voice that sounds identical to Sesame Street’s Elmo. I’m not kidding. It’s hard to hear that voice and keep a straight face.

I felt sorry for the pair initially. They used to both ride the early, early bus I took years back. In recent weeks, Weirder has become a regular on both of my buses, coming and going. I used to feel sorry for them.

But then, I saw how rude they were to each other and to fellow passengers. And they both stare which completely creeps me out. Weirder used to take the seat in front of me, sit sideways and turn and just stare at me. Luckily, he hasn’t done that lately. Though a few weeks ago, he did sit across from me, one seat ahead and give me sidelong stares.

That wouldn’t be bad except the bus mother, who was seated directly across from him, told me that his hand was, uh, in his lap.

Ewwwww. Perv.

So my sympathy has turned from mild annoyance to disgust. It was justified once again as this morning, Weird (the thus far non-perv of the duo) nearly knocked me over as I paused to slide into a seat. I sure hope this is not the tone being set for the day.

I guess it could be worse. It could have been Weirder. Ewwww.