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March 28, 2008
Bus Stop Blues
Bus Stop Blues
Super Bowl Monday, early a.m.
The young woman sat huddled alone in a corner of the clear plastic, doorless hut, a sharp wind blowing under the cigarette butt and trash hewn benches, chilling the feet of those waiting for the public buses.
She wore dark glasses, dressed in a bulky brown jacket, winter scarf, sock cap pulled down below her ears to eye level. She appeared withdrawn, tiny, confused and afraid.
Her grimy, off-white tennis shoes and thin, summer weight, brown cotton pants dripped melting snow when she moved. Wet stains crept up her pant legs to the knees.
One hand and arm clung tightly to a small bag, stuffed with a blanket.
The bag suddenly moved on its own, and she quickly adjusted the blanket, and slide to the end of the bench, to avoid two old men who’d joined us.
“You OK?” I asked, wondering if the bag protected an infant.
She sensed the object of my concern, gently pulling back the blanket from the top of the bag.
Out popped the homely head of a small pug dog.
“You know my cat died this morning. My dog is sick, too. I’m taking him to the vet in Athens,” she said to me and to no one.
“PLEASE don’t tell the bus driver,” she implored.
“OK.
Goin to Athens?” I said. “That’s 12-miles beyond Beckley and the end of your bus route. A 24-mile trip. How’re you getting there?”
“I’m gonna walk. My vet is cheap. I don’t mind,” she said, removing the dark glasses for the first time.
The two elderly men had been watching, listening.
“F*ck her, anyway,” one suddenly commented. “ She’s nothing special. I walked to Marshall when the county jail was there.”
He took a swig from the 40-ouncer of Red Bull, partly wrapped in a brown sack, and then passed it to his friend.
“Ya, f*ck her,” his companion added, perking up as he took a hit off the bottle. “We’re still celebrating the Super Bowl.”
The Capital NE bus arrived and the girl was gone.
And on my own ride, I wondered.
If the girl and her dog made it to Athens and back. In the winter air and wet clothes.
And what I could have, but did not, do for them.
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Comments
Welcome back! What a nice find as I was cleaning out bookmarked web sites.
How many times do we negate an "if only" with a "yeah, but...."?
Posted by: Bonnie | April 14, 2008