jeepney moment

late to work, due to spending the night in the makati apartment as opposed to the las pinas one. after the de rigeur mcdonald's supersize me breakfast (big breakfast with muffin -- as opposed to the rice i normally get), walked about a kilometer and a half to the most opportune spot on the south superhighway near pasay road to get an alabang-bound bus.

instead of broiling in the sun at the late hour (best time to be walking there is around 8 am, in the shade of the skyway), the walk was made bearable by the threatening overcast sky. got a rare "juaymah maureen" bus (for that time, anyway. they usually come along once an hour), again mostly empty for their return trip to alabang.

went to the jeepney terminal at the alabang market and got on a zapote jeep.

i got on the shadowed side of the jeep, close as possible to the entrance/exit and immediately had an odd impression of the guy one person shy of being behind the driver. he had a very pinched face, highlighted by the hollowness of his cheeks, and his eyes struck me as somewhat downcast, yet darting about.

his long-sleeved pullover shirt was probably once very colorful but now was faded and quite thin, fabric-wise.

as is natural on a jeepney, the farther from the driver, one has to hand off the fare to passengers inbetween...

...and he took the fare, doing something strange. maybe it was a matter of timing, but i recall his receiving it with his right hand, but he then made a motion with his left hand to give it to the lady next to the driver; who was at that very time giving someone else's change back.

in that odd exchange, his left hand, fingers closed, just tapped the lady's left shoulder as he got the change with his right hand.

i really don't know why i was looking at this entire happening, but it struck me that he didn't pass my fare along at all.

the situation got stranger when the lady with the driver began to make a fuss over the fare from a passenger opposite me, asking where it was.

he mentioned quite loudly that he'd already passed it, and he had -- though i didn't notice to whom he handed it to. in the intervening period, people had gotten on the jeep, hiding colorful-faded-shirt from my view.

he got off at a stop next to a road that led to a "depressed" area, and i lost sight of him as the jeepney sped away.

mixed feelings on my part. perhaps it was just a matter of timing, but with my senses still raw over my previous loss on a jeepney, it lent a kind of unease about this kind of public transport.

granted, the amount was very small, but still...

not sure i'm making sense.