His head shot up and he stared at the man. "I-I'm sorry. What did you say?"
"I said that I'm sorry you've had so much trouble and we are going to make sure that you get home." The man repeated. "There's a seat in the back. Now go ahead and make yourself comfortable and we'll be on our way to Ephrata."
The words were music to Niles' ears.
After thanking the man profusely, Niles wasted no time in sprinting up the steps of the bus. The effort was an awkward one, what with the burden of his luggage, the briefcase and, of course the cherished roses, but he did his best.
As he made his way down the much too narrow aisle of the buys, he was met with glares and grumbles of protests of annoyed and even angry passengers who uttered a smattering of swear words here and there; words that he knew were meant for his ears. He pretended not to hear them but he heard them just the same.
When he finally reached the next to last row of seats, he was completely worn out. The only thing he wished for was to flop into the seat and close his eyes. But, as had become the norm, it wasn't meant to be; not at all anyway.
He froze at the sight of the man who was so large that he was sitting not only in his own seat, but in Niles as well. Cautiously, Niles tapped the man on the shoulder.
The large eyes opened and glared at him.
"E-excuse me." Niles stammered. "I believe that you're in my seat."
"Says who?" the man barked.
"Well, according to that man in the front of the bus, this seat is mine. See? I have my ticket right here." For effect, he removed the ticket from his lapel and flashed it at the man, but of course the man didn't seem impressed. "If you could just-move over, I could just slide in next to you."
"I don't like the window seat."
"Oh, well… I don't mind-."
"All right then, take it!"
"What? Oh, all right I'll just-."
But the man made no attempt to move more than a few inches, forcing Niles to push his way past him. He cringed at the sound of a few of the roses snapping and he couldn't bear to look at what he'd done. The poor things; they desperately needed water and much more love than Niles had been able to give them. The most logical thing would have been to throw them away and simply buy new ones when and if he ever got home, but he couldn't bear to part with them. They were, in a sense, a symbol of all that he'd been through.
The only consolation was that he would be able to look out the window during their journey and watch the world go by as they headed for Ephrata, but when the man shifted his position, Niles found himself pinned into his seat. The man's size meant that he was occupying both his own and Niles' seat. Any attempt to move was downright impossible and Nile prayed to the heavens that the hour and sixteen minute trip would pass by quickly, like the scenery just outside the window. However, he knew that the trip would take an eternity.
He had finally found a comfortable position (which wasn't really saying much. More accurately, he'd found a position that allowed his tingling fingers, which had long since lost all feeling along with his left arm, to move a few inches) when the man decided to take a nap. But using Niles for a pillow was the worst thing that Niles could have ever imagined.
Not only was the man's weight like a lead pipe as his large body pressed against his, but the man definitely wasn't the most hygienic person that Niles had ever encountered. And thus, the hour and sixteen minutes seemed to crawl by.