The Bus

It’s around 5:30am and I am still waiting for the bus to leave the station. I’m so excited about my trip to Texas. It seems very odd because I’m only on the bus with 3 other people; the bus driver and a mother and her young daughter.

The Driver

He is a short man with white wavy hair and a long white beard. He reminds me of Santa Clause but I am sure that Santa doesn’t carry cigarettes in his shirt pocket like this guy does. He keeps looking in the mirror at the people on the bus; almost like he was analyzing them and judging them. Once when he looked back I noticed a brown liquid coming out of the corners of his mouth. That’s when I realized that his lip was full of dip and a bottle was close by, halfway full of spit. It disgusted me.

Mother and Daughter from Dominican Republic

A young woman, who looked to be in her early 20’s, was sitting near the back of the bus with her daughter, who looked to be about 3-years-old. The woman was looking out the window as if trying to find something to look at or to think about. The little girl was all smiles and had the cutest little pink dress on. She had a few smudges of dirt on her face and when she sang her songs in Spanish the smudges seemed to dance around.

A Medical Doctor

About halfway through the day we stopped in Greenville, SC. It was more of a bathroom and stretch our legs stop but we picked up 2 more people. The first was a wealthy man that carried a blackberry in his hand. Almost seconds after getting on the bus the phone rang and he talked for at least an hour. On the outside of the briefcase he carried was his named embossed below the zipper, Dr. P.J. Arnold. He had a badge on the outside of his scrubs and since he was sitting so far away I had to strain to read the words; P.J. Arnold, M.D. Greenville Memorial Hospital

A Newspaper Reporter

Along with the doctor came a middle-aged woman. She carried a notebook and a recorder in her hand. She was very friendly and began talking to me before she even sat down. Even though I didn’t ask her any type of questions she began talking about everything. She told me that her name was Iva Leonard and she was doing a story for ABC news. Her story was of a little boy with leukemia that wanted only one thing; to be on the news so everyone he knew could say he was famous. It was a simple story and Iva laughed as she talked about it. After talking to her I realized that the only reason she was on her way was so ABC news could get more attention. They wanted only the publicity and it made me mad. I made a mental note to change my news choice for the mornings.

A former Professional Athlete

After driving though the night the driver made a stop in Yazoo City, Mississippi. At the stop, three more people got on. They got on laughing and talking to each other leading me to believe they had already introduced themselves. One of the new riders was a young man who looked to be in his mid 20s. He was wearing a Tennessee Titans jersey and had the name Gino Guidugli printed on the back. He had a sling on his arm and carried with him only a small suitcase. He was built and to me looked like a football player. I overheard the medical doctor ask the man his name. The man of course answered and that’s when the doctor went nuts. Come to find out this young man was a quarterback for the Tennessee Titans and had recently hurt his arm. He told us that he was on his way to see his family in Bryan, Texas and didn’t want so much publicity on his family so he rode the bus. That was a mistake because when Iva heard that she started talking to him. I knew that this former athlete would soon take the place of the little boy with leukemia.

An Aspiring Musician

Along with the football player came a young man who looked to be around 18 years-old. He had the most gorgeous blue eyes that reminded me of the ocean. In his hands he had only a guitar case and a small bag. After only 5 minutes of riding he began to go through his bag and pulled out a small notebook with papers hanging out of the sides. Leaning over the seat I