The Pink Peril

So many characters rub shoulders as they hurtle along the bumpy scenic route on the way from Maroubra into the City on M10 bus
Young and old from all walks of life.
Occasionally, there is one who stands out from the rest !

The bus pulled into the stop at Central and vomited the bulk of its passengers out onto the pavement to be lost in the orderly muddle of pedestrians.
Suddenly quiet, there seemed a lull in the shuffle of new passengers boarding and a short, chubby little Asian lady clambered the steps and pulled a basket on wheels loaded with shopping bags, behind her up the steps.
Her round pink face beamed beneath a broad pink cowboy hat which matched her pink duster coat and went nicely with the baggy cream trousers she stepped on as she walked.
She paused in the walkway and looked around; eyeing the occupants of the 'three aside' sideways facing seats that conveniently folded up for pushchairs, wheelchairs and the like.
Two people sat on either side, a folded seat between them.  Eventually, she turned to a young Asian student sitting on one side and promptly began battering him around the head and shoulders and screaming at him in some unintelligible dialect!
He shot up from his seat as if stung and chanting 'sorry, sorry', like a mantra; squeezed himself between the two girls sitting on the other side.
The lady in pink, nodded contentedly to herself and carefully strapped her shopping trolley to the seat now vacated, with the safety belt intended for wheelchairs.
She then turned beaming to another passenger further back and calling to her, went to join her. Her basket on wheels now had two seats to itself and the young student was by now, very engrossed in a text book and sporting very pink ears!!

During this whole charade the bus had been rendered silent. Totally awed by the proceedings!!
A lot of us were grinning widely and exchanging amused glances

The lady in pink and her friend then proceeded to carry out a loud conversation that none of us could understand, punctuated by great bursts of laughter and exclamations!

After about 10 minutes, during which time we had all settled down to our own various distractions; the Asian student extracted a bottle of clear soda from his bag. Balancing his book under his chin, he proceeded to twist open the cap, whereupon the fizzy contents decided to spurt forth like a mini geyser, adding to his misery and wetting him and his fellow passengers either side of him!!

They were both very good about it, both young girls; they saw the funny side and patted neatly at their sticky and damp, spotted legs and exchanged a tissue quite cheerfully as he offered profuse apologies and the two raucous ladies (both in pink I later discovered), let loose with even louder laughter and wickedly sang 'Happy Birthday' to the boy's impromptu celebratory scene at the top of their voices!
The boy student changed his mind about the soda, re-tightened the cap without further mishap and returned to the safety of his uneventful text book.

To give him his due, he didn't blush; nor die of embarrassment and, in fact, seemed quite unperturbed about the whole scene; even managing to alight from the bus at Kensington without seeming the least self conscious.....
I watched him saunter away to be swallowed by the throng of students from the UNSW - and suspected brain damage from his recent battering!