Overheard on Muni

When I'm in the habit of riding the same bus lines at about the same times every day I start to see familiar faces.  The muni line I take to work is a popular one, and is often crowded.  I'm lucky when I get a seat.  One familiar face on this bus is a sweet little girl, who is maybe five.  She tends to talk loudly, in the way small kids do, with her mom or dad (or both, when all three of them happen to get on together).  Usually someone will giver her and her mom a seat and the girl will sit in her mom's lap.  People on the bus don't have much to look at, if they aren't absorbed in a book or cell phone, and the cute girl attracts a lot of attention.  The girl was being particularly chatty and silly the other day, kicking her feet against her mom's legs as she peppered her with questions.  When she realized other people were watching her she started to giggle and play it up.

"Mom!" she said, and then babbled some nonsense words.  "Mom, was that in gobbly gook?"

"Yes," Mom said and the passengers around them smiled.  The woman next to me chuckled under her breath.

"Mom!" she said, and then babbled some nonsense words.  "Mom, was that in Spanish?"

"No," her mom said.

"Oh, Mom!  Vaminos!"  The little girl bounced on her mother's knees, clearly pleased to be delivering the punch line of her joke.  "Was that in Spanish?"

"Yes," her mom said.

"Vaminos!  Vaminos!  Vaminos!"  The girl collapsed into a fit of giggles and looked shly around the bus to see who had appreciated her efforts.  The woman next to me laughed out loud and the girl rewarded her with a final "Vaminos!" before she was laughing too hard to continue.