ANNIE OAKLEY

NOT

the REAL Annie Oakley

of course

but perhaps

a reincarnation of her

This Annie has all the piss and vinegar of the aforementioned one, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she was a distant relative.

Our first encounter was about eleven o’clock on a quiet Sunday morning in Hillcrest, San Diego’s renown gay area.  She arrived at the stop with a big grin and an impressive hello.  Being the first and only passenger to board the bus while I waited to begin my run, I struck up a conversation.

“So, what do have going this morning?” I inquired.

“I’m just going to meet a couple of my friends and throw back a few of cold ones,”

she responded almost automatically.

Somehow this seemed true-to-form for the countenance she sported.

Annie is of slight build, probably 5’2”, barely over 100 lbs., with a short, cute haircut, and is the ‘male-persuasion’ of the lesbian component.  She did her stint in the military as a Seabee, and traveled the world doing some pretty heavy lifting.  Her hardest job was probably keeping her sexual-orientation under wraps.

We would run into each other every six months, the most noteworthy and fun being a time when she was stinking drunk, but in a good mood, and noticed me exiting my bus heading for the bathroom during Gay-Pride Weekend.

“HEY DAVE!” she bellowed, and started walking awkwardly towards me, kind of stooped over with an arm bent overhead to give me a high-five before a hug.  I immediately began to mimic her by stooping over, and waddling forward with a bent-arm overhead to meet up with hers.

She happened to be with a male friend who began to take offense at me, thinking I was making fun of her.  She quickly intervened, our high-fives meeting, followed by a big hug, and a loud exclamation to her companion,

“HEY, it’s OK.  This is my favorite bus driver of all time!”

Annie Oakley to the rescue.