Do Enjoy.

BUS RAGE

It was hot about 37 degrees and he was in a foul mood. He had been waiting for the bus for almost an hour under the boiling sun and when it arrived, it was packed full. The doors opened and the odour of sweat, perfume, faecal strangeness, meat and potato pies hit his nose. He swayed on his feet as an elderly lady took her time coming down the bus step. A boy in a grey hoodie came through his side and tried to get in before him, his glare made the boy slink back behind.

 At last, the woman came down and he stepped on, showed the driver his pass and joined the people already standing in the bus, looking for a place to hold on to something as the bus lurched into motion.

Usually, he tried to block his senses away from the everyday vibes in a bus but maybe due to his irritation, he smelt every smell, heard every sound, every sensation was magnified.  There was a girl in a grey skirt suit by his left, one of those office secretary types, yapping into her phone. Intermittently, she hurled out stuff like ‘oh God!’ ‘No! You lie!’ ‘Get out of here!’ It was obvious, she was one of the 9pm - 11pm television watching types. The yuppies.

On his right was a guy who obviously had had too much to drink; he reeked of stale vomit and fresh alcohol. As he looked at him, the drunk lifted his head and belched. He held his breath hoping he wouldn’t have to smell whatever came from him. The bus stopped and the doors opened, a wave of fresh air briefly came but was quickly sucked into the overwhelming smell within. He tried to catch a waft of it before it dissipated in vain.

He lowered his head in an effort to breathe in only his own skin then he saw her. She was wearing faded jeans and a fashionable top. Her dread locked head was leaning on the window and she was smiling at him! He scowled at her wondering if she knew him. He looked closely and then noticed her eyes were half closed. She was in a private world where her thoughts provoked smiles and it somehow quite made him furious.

Her head rocked slightly to the motion of the moving bus and her smile flitted off and on her face, sometimes it was slight and other times, it deepened so much, her dimples showed. She would almost chuckle then her eyes would fly open and then go half shut again.

‘Slut! She must be thinking dirty things. Maybe she’s coming from a erotic night or going to one, or she’s done something nasty to man and she’s gloating over it…I can bet, whatever is behind that smile is a man and its nasty!’

He scowled deeper at her, hoping she would notice and stop, realising she bothered him. Four stops into the bus ride and her smiles kept constant, eyes half open, head on the window, hair bobbing gently, hands on her laps, lost to the world. Very infuriating.

At last the bus inches its way to his stop; someone else had pressed the bell. The bus stops and the doors opened, people started getting off, the drunk, the girl in the grey skirt suit gets off too. The air feels better; the girl by the window is still smiling. He turns away from her to get off but his fury has slowly stoked itself into rage. In a quick movement, he turns back and stomps her on the foot heavily.

Her eyes fly open in pained panic, trying to focus in her confusion. The boy sitting behind her gasps. He looks at her straight in the face. ‘Good’ he says and he get off the bus, turning to look at her as the bus doors closed and moved off with the girl looking at him through the window, her mouth opened in amazed shock. He turns and set off with a smile flitting across his face, his dimples deep.