You never know who’s going to get on the 36 Broadway bus. I remember riding it late one night when it stopped at Broadway and Wilson to pick up a lone woman. She had a hard time getting on. Once aboard, obviously drunk, she pulled out a gun and pointed it at the bus’s ceiling.
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There were only half a dozen of us on the bus. Most of us were sitting near the back exit. “This is a holdup,” she told all of us. Then she lost her balance, caught the divider near the front door, and stood back up. “I’m coming back to get your money.” For some reason, none of us seemed to be worried.
The bus driver looked at her. The gun was aimed at a side window now. “Listen,” he said, drawing her attention back to the front, “I have a few bucks.” He looked at the back door and we took the hint immediately. All of us scrambled out of the bus. From the safety of the street we heard the driver say, “Hey, they’re getting away.”
It was all a diversion. One of the kids grabbed a purse and the other two followed suit. Running off the bus with athletic agility, they vanished with the purses so quickly the three victims did not have any time to react.
