The Bus Ride

The evening wore a very disgruntled and tedious look as if the day itself had a bad day. Warm hot air blew through the bus window and smell of orange wafted through the air. The smell within the bus was rancid with body odor that permeated through bodies that stick through sweaty shirts, blouses, and petticoats. It was the heavy smell of helplessness, despair, and tiredness.

The bus slowed, the conductor pushed two women and the children clinging to them out the door. A passing scooter sped past the wrong side of the road barely missing the first woman. The conductor smirked as he took a peek at her blouse and mentally gauged the potential within. To stop his imagination from running wild, he screamed a profanity and the bust started moving towards the next stop.

The little girl beside me kept slipping off the seat as she tried to perch herself up every time the motion of the bus uprooted her from the seat. “Uh Oh”, she said and then placing one small palm on my thigh she tried to balance herself on the seat. I moved to my right pressing myself against the side of the bus as much as I can to make room. I helped her perch and then sit. My effort seemed to have paid off. She didn’t slide down on the next two consecutive bounces and managed to keep herself steady when a cow came in front of the bus and the driver pressed the brake pedal for a change – to wake himself up.

“Thank you”, she said. I smiled and looked out the window. After sometime the bus was on the highway and rolled with a steady motion. Sleep consumed me and I started to doze. Suddenly the little girl tagged on my shirt and asked me if she could sit by window. Her mother protested. I agreed. So we changed places and I was sitting next to her mother. The rancid was stronger and she smiled as if to tell me that she know I could smell her. I folded my hand and dropped my shoulders ready to doze off again but decided to check on the little girl. She looked out the window and her hair blew within the reigns of her hair clips creating small waves on her small head. She looked serene. I smiled and looked out the window myself.

Dark mellow clouds drifted on the southern sky and covered the raging sun. The sunrays, however, continued to cut through the clouds trying to stake their claim as the only source of truth in the sky. They lost. The clouds grew darker, the wind sharper and the hillocks stared up at the sky mocking the defeat of the sunrays. Drops of rain started to hit my face and I asked the little girl if she wanted me to roll up the window. She said, “No”.
The girl shivered and I placed my hand on her shoulders. She relaxed. The bus was moving at a fast pace and the passengers inside glowed with a newfound charm. The rancid odor was less hostile and the girl’s mother beside me dozed clutching her little brother. I began to doze and dream.