vignette
I was perhaps 19 or 20 years old when this happened. There are night time buses that traverse only major roads in the wee hours; most of them leave from Atwater. I had been out with friends until quite late and then made my way over to Atwater to catch the 354 bus back to Dorval where my car was parked; it would be about a 30 minute bus ride.
It was cold and snow had fallen, but it wasn't snowing, I remember that much because of how frosted my windows were when I got back to the car.
While waiting for the bus to arrive at Atwater I started talking to this girl who I was next to, also waiting for the bus. She was petite, cute, pierced, friendly, a fashion design student. I suppose I must have been in an exceptional mood since I would do this kind of thing almost exactly zero other times. We got on the bus and were chatting for the whole ride when it turns out that we were both getting off at Dorval. I said something to her like 'I know you don't really know me, however, that it is so cold tonight, I'd be happy to drive you to your apartment; if you'd prefer not to take me up on the offer I won't in the least be offended'. She was gracious and thanked me for the offer and took me up on it.
For those of you who do not know about living in the sub zero, there is a principle that I didn't know at the time that I will explain in another post, but anyhow, the inside of the windshield of the car was full of frost. As it was very cold that night, it took a long time for the window to defrost. We continued talking and then finally when I could see out I drove her home. She didn't live very far from where the bus let us off, so I imagine that she may have been able to walk home in the same time it took for the car to heat up, but anyhow, it was very nice.
I don't know what brought this memory back in the last couple of days, but for some reason it came back.
3 comments:
Nice story, glad you wrote it. Now you have got to tell me about that principle because for as long as I live in the sub-tropics I will never learn about the principle by experience.
I'd gone to pick D up from work, it was late, heavy snow, no busses would be coming. Two young women at a bus stop, and we offered them a ride, knowing they would not get anywhere otherwise. They accepted, and we got them home that evening. That was in the Subaru, maybe 20 years ago, and I trusted my own ability to drive in snow.
I think if the inside of the windshield is frosted, you may have an improper seal in the door. My truck does this now but before the seal was compromised, frost only accumulated on the outside.
Of course, once it gets really cold, there is no moisture anywhere to make frost so...
Neither here nor there really. I think the important point is that it is a pleasant memory even if you never saw this person again.
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