Original content posted on Quora here
What is the most intimate thing you have experienced in public transportation?
I was riding the bus one Saturday morning to a yoga class, and I had my dog Ruby with me, who was still just a puppy at the time.
Long and skinny and only 15 pounds or so, she could easily tuck herself behind the backpack I would wear even while seated. If seated by a window this would make her invisible to the person in the aisle seat, and that’s how we were configured when a woman sat down next to me.
We smiled politely at each other, went back to our own worlds, and about 30 seconds later Ruby popped her puppy face out from under my arm, which startled the woman, who laughed out loud and then immediately burst into tears.
“Oh my I’m so sorry I’m so embarassed, I can’t believe that happened!” she said, wiping her tears and trying to laugh it off but the tears just kept coming.
It turns out that the day previous, there had been an accident downtown… serious and news-worthy… a very well known and loved person had been hit by a truck and killed while riding her bike to work. And this poor woman had been standing right there, saw the whole thing live.
“Maybe I’m not processing it so well”, she joked.
While she was telling me this story, Ruby had climbed into her lap and wrapped her front legs around the woman’s neck, her muzzle pressed behind the woman’s ear.
After she was done telling the story she just sat there and sobbed, petting Ruby and periodically wiping her nose.
They sat like that for the remainder of the ride, sweetly cradling each other in their own little world together.
*****
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