A Beso on the Bus

Plot and Duck waited on the corner of Primera Junta and Guayaquil Burgos for the 53 bus that would take them all the way down to La Boca. A girl in her thirties was standing in the street also, stretching to see if the bus were coming. Plot asked her if the 53 bus stopped at this intersection and she said that it did. Within five minutes Emilce, Plotnik and Ducknik were fast friends.

When the bus arrived they boarded together, stood together and talked about everything, about life in Buenos Aires, about the cost of apartments and child care, about health care, about the best restaurants in town, about life with two kids in the blessed city of tango. Emilce said she and her husband would never be able to afford to buy a home. Sounded familiar.

Two people got off so Plot and Duck sat down.



Then an older lady got on so Plot got up to give her his seat. She sat down heavily and within thirty seconds was intimately involved in the conversation. She had few teeth, so her conversation was difficult for Plot to decipher, but she had her two centavos to get in as well about the city.

It's a long ride to La Boca on the 53 bus, at least forty minutes. The two women got off at different times. When Emilce got set to leave the bus, she wrote her email address on a piece of paper, first asking a man across the aisle for a pencil, and for the name of the restaurant she was trying to remember to recommend to Plot and Duck. Now he was involved in the conversation as well and he thought the restaurant was called Bodegon del Obrero, and he agreed it was an excellent choice and they talked about the size of the milanesa and how good the fried potatoes were and that Plot and Duck better be hungry and should make sure to keep their mochila (backpack) in front of them when they were walking off the beaten path in La Boca.



Two more men standing in the bus agreed about the restaurant and keeping the backpack in front, although one of them knew another restaurant he thought might be a good choice and the lady with no teeth agreed with him, nodding her head emphatically.

Emilce kissed the first man on the cheek when he got ready to leave the bus. Plotnik would have thought that two strangers on the bus kissing each other goodbye was weird, a week ago, but not any more.



Then Emilce came to her stop. Plotnik went to shake her hand but she pulled him towards her cheek, that he summarily kissed. Ducknik stood up and she kissed her too. Emilce got off with many good byes and promises to come see the Plotniks if she ever got to Saint Plotniko.

But it wasn't over. Now the old lady with no teeth stood up to get off and as Plotnik smiled at her without realizing what was about to happen, she reached out, grabbed the back of his head with both hands and pulled it towards her, smacking his forehead right into the pole. Plot winced, but she kept pulling until his face reached her cheek, which he figured he'd damned well better kiss. So he did.

She said something without any teeth that was probably 'adios' and then she grabbed Ducknik and kisssed her too and God knows what either of them said to each other.

The bus got to the end of the line. Plot and Duck got off. They'll be home Thursday.