Pigeons.

While I was waiting at the bus stop for the elusive 54C, the woman next to me carried on a phone conversation. She was doing that thing where she had the phone on speaker and so I had the benefit of hearing both sides of the conversation. It was a pretty standard older lady conversation about what was going on later. The woman had a doctor's appointment to go to, and her conversational partner was picking up some kids or watching some kids or something.

It was kind of dull.

BUT THEN!!! Then the woman began making comments about the birds around us and how there seemed to be a group of pigeons amassing. And she was right. Up on the wires, more and more pigeons were joining up. The woman then started saying "They's waiting for Mary Jane! You just wait. They's all there waiting for Mary Jane." I didn't know what she was talking about so I just ignored it. She kept making comments to her friend about the number of birds flocking around us. I made the mistake of making eye contact and she asked me if I noticed the birds. I acknowledged in the affirmative. She said, "Just you wait. Mary Jane''ll be coming on the next bus, I betya. She gets fined for feeding 'em downtown, but she keep doing it."

And soon, the 88 pulled up and a little old lady in a hat and with an old lady cart got off. The woman next to me said "Mary Jane! When the 54C come?" And Mary Jane said just keep waiting. She crossed 40th and the woman said "You watch when she cross the street. You just wait." As she stood on the corner, the pigeons all started getting restless, hopping from wire to wire. The light changed and Mary Jane crossed Penn, and all hell broke loose. The pigeons started dropping down from the sky all around her. She reached her hand in her bag and tossed out some bird seed for them. She walked on her way, but the pigeons remained. Soon they flew off in another direction.

It was weird.