"I survived my past [encounter]"

"oooh, it's nice out!" she said as she left her office on a fine Spring day, a total novelty after the long New England winter.  She decided to walk towards the bus station to head back home and enjoy the rest of the night.  The station, a total contrast to the green, pristine lawn of her residence, was cluttered with commuters and people whose faces showed the long, strenuous hours a work or lack thereof that day.   It's not the prettiest place in town, nor is it the safest.  Dudley Station is enveloped by this sense of inner-cityness and poverty.  You can see the hardworking people trying to catch the bus as they head to their fast-food restaurant job--the "Would you like fries with that" joke is not so much one for them, it's their reality.  Once can also see the faces that were once vibrant and youthful but now, regardless of age, seemed torn and depleted by the traces of addition and longing utopic escape it provides.  She sat down, as she does at least 3 times a week when the weather is nice.   As she waited for the bus, praying that the scent for the incense vendor would not reach her an trigger a migraine, she realized her lips where in need of some TLC-ing chap-stick.   As she searched through the oversized bag she carried, someone approached with a grin and quizzing eyes,

--i hope you find what you're looking foh. he said. 
-- i hope so too, said she with a gentle smile and hoping that was the end of the conversation.

he paused and looked toward her direction, again asking:
--whatchu you looking in there?
she continued moving her hand inside the bag, ignoring his question for a few seconds but then realizing that she could not possibly step on this human beings' dignity so harshly.
--oh, found it!--the gentle smile back--my chapstick, that's what i was looking for.
--here--he said--take a look at this, as he passed the infamous 4x6 'club' card that seems to be ubiquitous in anyone who's trying to be who in mass advertising.  she herself had designed a few in her social justice awareness career.
--thank you...
-- check it.  what do you think?
--hmmm, "i survived my past" it's a catchy phrase.
-- you're write it is. i came up with it myself.  you know what... i'm attracted to you!
--ahem... [smile] well, thank you.
--but what do you think?  do you like them?  
with her characteristic bluntness she answers, -- well, not really.  they're not my style.
---girl!  whatchu mean?  how can you cannot like them?
--well, you asked and I answered.  :)
-- i guess so... but you know--as he squints his eyes---i'm attracted to you!
--ok....
--no really, you seem like an educated woman, you know a good man when you see it.
--how about dinner with me?
--well, I don't dine with strangers....
---what do you mean? you a grown woman! don't give me that don't talk to strangers crap. you're not in middle school...
--uh, uh, uh... i didn't say talk to strangers now... am talking to you, aren't I?
-- ah, you fresh...  but I'm attracted to you....
--it's a free country. :)
--well, if not dinner how about pizza...
--nope, sorry. i just don't want to
He continued talking about random subjects, asking her to buy a t-shirt how modern women do not know how to let a man lead but then want him to lead. how they have lost touch with being feminine, blah, blah, blah...
--i'm going national with my t-shirts. would you buy one if you see it?
-- sure, i do and have money.
--good! how about ice cream? wouldn't you wanna do ice cream?
-- uh, no. not really.
he continued with his socially conscious monologue and she could not wait for the darn 41 bus to appear. at that point another 40- or 50-something-looking black man approaches them, looks to her and asks, --what time is it?
she says --oh, one sec--looks at her cell phone and says, --6:24.  he smiles and walks away.
at this point the previous t-shirt entrepreneur is looking not so happy. he then proceeds..
--ok, so if a man is talking with a woman and another man approaches, to whom should he direct his question?
--to the man? --she says
--exactly. i'm glad we agree.  why on earth will he just come here, innerup, and not direct his inquiry to me?  where I come from you don't do that. you just can't step on another's man conversation like that.  not that i'm being territorial or anything but i'm an educated man.  i know my place. i know that when i'm talking with you, he should show some courtesy that way.   i tell ya...
he paused a bit and looked at voluptuous woman walking by.  then the went back to his previous course.
--anyway, beautiful.  i have  two masters degree and have lived in many place. i know about people.  i have lived in San Francisco  for a while.-- she wanted to say "SF is nice" but there was no way to interject-- i have dated lots of beautiful women.  really, really beautiful women.  i was in Cambodia on vacation and you can have any woman you like. gorgeous women.  --as he said this she just thought, "dude, you could not seem more gay than you are now. why are you telling me all this?"


--here, why don't you write your number here? --he points to the middle of the page, where about 5 lines before a woman had written her name and number, and an annotation next to it said, "monday." he really wanted to start laughing hysterically but just couldn't.
--you have my number too. it's on the card.  the t-shirt card.  call me.  BUT! only after 9pm.  and if i don't answer leave a message. i will call you back.

she decided to write her "fake" email address on the notebook and her middle name which is as common as "Mary".  as she wrote, he goes:
--wait a minute, wait a minute.  what is this? email?  i don't want no email.  i want your number.
--i don't give my number to random people on the street.-- she says
--but i want to hear your voice. if you meet someone you like and you like their voice. you want to hear them. you don't want no email.
--sorry, i just don't do that.
--how are you going to meet people if you do not connect?! this is ridiculous.
--oh, that's my bus coming. i gotta go!
--ok, ok.  you call me. remember after 9pm.  and when you do, remind me of your name and where we met.  i meet so many people that i want to make sure it's you....


oh the things i see and go through at Dudley station.  the end.