Appropriate?

I rode the bus today because it is too hot to ride my bike. This is not nonsense. I would have to bring a whole change of clothes or work soaking wet, and with the weight of my day already on my back it's just too much to carry.

So I was on the 71A, happy to be back. The passengers squeezed in at the normal places, still refused to give up seats to blind or elderly people. Then, a young man got on the bus wearing no shirt. I know it's hot outside. Very hot. Like 90 degrees and awfully humid. But no shirt? On the bus? He just leaned up against the seat and started reading Dante's Inferno like he was at the pool on a bench.

I would wager that this lad was a high school student, not in school for Columbus Day. But where was his shirt? I had no idea these things were legal. Clearly, I was very jealous and wished I were sitting on the bus not wearing a shirt. Or pants. I sat under the weight of my bookbag, suffering from lower back and crotchal sweat in the failed air conditioning, totally green with envy.

When he got off at Thackaray, I almost chased him down the street to shake his hand.