by Jon Coe

Created on: May 04, 2007   Last Updated: May 14, 2007

It was a usual dark morning in March. It had rained during the night and rain water sat on the road and grass. As I walked the half mile to the bus stop, I noticed that it had not rained in certain places.

I have been taking this bus route for ten or eleven years now and I have seen the same stuff and the same people every day. In fact, when someone doesn't get on the bus for a week or so, then there is a visual understanding amongst the passengers. We all really only communicate by eye contact. You can't help think to yourself, "That person either got a new job, they bought a car, or they died"! And this becomes a collective form of telepathy, as daily bus passengers are all part of the same hive.

It is funny how one becomes dependent on a routine; If I fell sick or went on vacation, I felt that a part of my life was missing. Not taking the bus, was like removing a vital limb from my body.

I remember last year; I had two weeks vacation and the Monday that my vacation started, I actually got up at 6:30 in the morning and took that bus, just because it felt normal for me to do. I remember spending the whole day looking at buildings and shop windows. When it was time to come home, I made sure that I caught the same bus at the same time. It was as if I wanted to show everyone that I hadn't died or lost my job or something.

One day, one of the passengers got on the bus and his leg was in a cast. We all looked at him, as if to say, "You broke your leg"! And he looked at us, as if to say, "Yes I damn well did"!

I hated missing the bus! I felt like I shouldn't be going to work if I did. It actually happened to me; When I boarded the bus, a different bus, there were different people on it, all going to different jobs! I knew what they were thinking! They were thinking that I was a new person. I didn't know where to sit. I stumbled around as the bus rolled off to the next stop. I was afraid that I would be sitting in someone else's seat! Eventually, when I did sit down, a couple of people looked at me, as if to say, "That's not your seat"! I only missed the bus once!

Today was a special day. I was going to get a promotion. I didn't know what kind of promotion or how much more money it would bring. I sort of had a little smile on my face and a little perkiness about me. I felt like telling someone all about it! But, everybody on the bus had seen that look before, and so had I, so I kept it to myself. I am sure that someone was thinking about my promotion anyway!

The bus became

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