Tom Lynch

The elderly man with the red-stocking cap fumbles with the change in his palm and drops a dime onto the floor. He picks it up slowly, dumps it in the slot. It's not enough. The bus driver frowns. A hushed yet still audible "God dammit" is uttered from the elderly man. He doesn't know anything.

As of January 1, the Chicago Transit Authority upped the fare for public bus and train rides, from $1.50 to $1.75. On the morning of the new year, no one on the Addison bus knows that their journey is more expensive.

"You mean what?" a short woman asks the driver, flicking her dark purple scarf around her aged neck. "A quarter," he says, having already said it at almost every stop beforehand. "It's a quarter more. New prices." Begrudgingly, she concedes. The bus driver doesn't scoff--he's just tired. With every stop, there's more explaining to do.

Luckily, it's New Year's Day--no one's off to work, just a few people with things to do and a few more still on their way home from the previous night's escapade. A young tall rock 'n' roll type with tinted glasses boards at Kimball. "Is it still a penny?" he asks the driver, in reference to the penny rides of New Year's Eve. The driver looks scared. "No," he says, "that ended a few hours ago." The rock star gets money from his jacket pocket--$1.50 exactly. It's not enough. The driver shakes his head as confusion sets in once again.

(2004-01-06)

Also by Tom Lynch

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(2003-11-05)

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