Bathurst Station.

Climbing the stairs to the bus platform at Bathurst station, there is always a sense of excitement. I don't know if it is the region, the hour or simply my state of mind, but I am sure that waiting for the bus wont be a bore.

I stand amidst the patient crowd. Most are trying to keep warm and keep their minds off the hour; texting, playing with their phones or reading books. A mother and her daughters sit on the red bench with samosas in hand. One of the girls seems to be holding hers for warmth rather than consumption. It is a cold night, it is late, everyone just seems to want to get home.

The doors to outside are blowing with the wind and I am starting to get concerned about my own body heat. I start hoping the bus will show up soon. I focus on my breathing and flexing and releasing my larger muscle groups. That's when I notice the man to the right of the doors. He is talking, not loud or too expressively, but he is talking. I follow his gaze to the left hand side of the doors to see a man leaning against the glass who is listening to his ipod. He is oblivious to the conversation.
My gaze pulls back to the newly dubbed "crazy man"(CM). He is still talking and my mind wanders around his past and present.

I blink and no longer have eyes, but a camera lens instead. I am focused on the negative space between CM's face and gestures... he blurrs as I zoom through the window glass to a new jester, a dancing man on the platform. He is a heavy character, alone in his world. People have moved away, or come inside to avoid his show. He reminds me of the charmin' bear from the toilet paper commercials. He is perfectly framed by the out of focus gestures of CM and I am thoroughly entertained.

I guess I do not notice my own smile... but he does and low and behold, the rule of the TTC prevails. Dancing bear stops and aims straight at me. I don't yet understand that I am about to become part of the entertainment.

Dancing bear comes inside, passing CM and the man with the Ipod. He stands directly in my line of vision. I pull at my headphones and disconnect out of courtesy. " You were dancing too". He is beaming." You saw me!". I reflect his beam and start to wonder if I have unknowingly become a 'CG'.
I was then privied to story about fire marshall kicking him out of his building because it was unsafe. I heard about how he will be able to get back in, because as sneaky as he is he put something in the fire-door near his apt.
He tells me how he will single handedly make the leafs win the cup if he stays where he is, so he really has to stay there. His eyes never leave mine.

He stops, just staring at me in disbelief. " you are listening to me, you are the first person to see me all day" he says. I nod, smiling too. " you know... you are as cute as a BUTTON!" he says. "You really are."...

I know my bus arrived minutes ago, I can see awkward 'normal people' considering trying to pull me away from the deranged character who is blocking my exit, but no one approaches.
" well, my bus is here, Good luck with your living situation... and the leafs". I laugh. " and be careful!"
All he does is smile at me.

" thank you" he said.
Thank you.

As I get to the bus the I pod man moves aside to let me get on first. " are you okay?" he asks.



I am better than okay. I just got to experience another beautiful stranger. Another human being, isolated in a city of 6 million, might not feel so alone tonight.

If was only that easy. eh?