There is a certain happiness sighted when your bus comes along. It is of course a small specialized form of happiness and will never be a great thing.

-Richard Brautigan, The Old Bus

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Comfortable, but worn

Her shoes are black flip-flops, the sort sold in the seasonal aisle of the supermarket. She wears black capris and a tank top of an orange color suitable for highway construction zones. Both the pants and top show the signs of many washings. Comfortable, but worn; washed out, but serviceable -- the image of a morning bus rider.

She sits in the first seat behind the driver. Her ample breasts loll on folds of her belly that stack on her lap. She is a blonde model for the wife of the Michelin man.

As she settles in her seat and begins talking to the women nearby, she casually slips her left hand under the right strap of her top and tucks her bus pass between her bra and the outside of her right bosom.

She doesn't carry a purse.

I return to my book wondering where she keeps her spare change.

2 comments:

ByJane said...

well, you certainly got a snort of laughter from me! i love these descriptive pieces you're doing.

Unknown said...

Thanks. Riding the bus to work certainly provides a wealth of material for these vignettes.