Bus

“Excuse me. I think you just took a wrong turn. I need to get off on First Street. It is back there, and now we’re going to Grand Avenue.” I’m standing beside the driver. Who totally ignores me. So I yell again.

“EXCUSE ME! I think you just took a WRONG TURN!” Again, no response. Perhaps this driver is deaf? I turn around to find the passengers on the bus oblivious to my shouting as well.

I walk down the aisle. “HEY, does anyone care that the driver just took a WRONG TURN back there?” No response. Everyone on the bus ignores me.

Am I in a time warp? In another dimension? Am I not speaking the correct language? Am I on mute?

“I have to get to work, people!” Still no response. “If I don’t get there on time, I’ll get fired!” Nothing, no sounds at all. Just the bus rumbling down the street.

No stops, no noise. I ran back up to the driver. The man, the bus driver, the ignorer of all my yelling, keeps his eyes on the road.

“Do you hear ME? Stop this bus and TURN it AROUND!”

The bus screeches to a halt, the driver standing on the brake. I flew into the stairwell.

“Are you happy now? Is this what you want? I stopped the bus, lady,” he screamed at me.

I crawled up to him. “Why didn’t you turn back there?”

“We were told not to.” The bus began to move again.

“Who told you not to turn?”

And everyone on the bus in unison said, “They did.”

“Who is ‘they’?”

No one spoke, no one looked my way. Several people started to cry.

The bus driver finally whispered, “They are the ones who control the universe, our thoughts, our deeds. We cannot do anything without their permission.”

“Hogwash! Turn this bus around!”

The bus continued down the Avenue. No stops, not even for red lights.
I tried to open the door, it was locked. I screamed, no response from anyone.

The bus continued its trip. We’re still traveling.


W/C 348