The Bus "Incident"

Yesterday after my cleaning and check-up at the dentist, no new cavities, but I'll need an hour's worth of treatments next month, I took the bus from Har Nof to Geula near downtown Jerusalem.  Being tired, I was glad to have a seat even though it faced backwards which really doesn't bother me, leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes to rest a bit.  Suddenly, something began banging my head.  I grabbed it, let out a yell, opened my eyes and discovered that it was the window shade.  The passenger sitting behind my back, back to back, apparently wanted to lower the shade and hadn't checked to see where the other end of the shade was.

That other passenger was an young Arab woman, as was her companion.  No, they didn't apologize, not at all.  A passenger across the aisle yelled at me:

"What's the big deal?  It wasn't her fault. She didn't notice that you were there!"
"That was the problem," I replied.  "She should have checked."
"Savlanut, patience!  What's the big deal?"
"When you get hit in the head, you can try to be patient!"

Then things quieted down.  I leaned my head back on the window and tried to rest.