-A Talk
The seat was uncomfortable underneath him as he sat there. The bus's interior was like any other vehicle of public transportation, a wreck. It wasn't much to look at and there was some pungent order that was infesting itself into his nostrils that he couldn't put his finger on. He had chosen a seat behind the driver, it was the first available one, and started to stare at the only other occupants on the bus.
It was a young couple, probably starting off in college, looking at each other with lust in their eyes. The boyfriend was playing with her face and hair, gently tracing the curves of her face with his finger. His girlfriend for her part was giggling and giving off playful moans trying to intrigue him. They were lost in there own world not caring who saw them or what they were thought of. They had each other and that was all that mattered.
Water flew from his damp hair as whipped his head around turning away from the disgusting sight. His slumped downward until it looked like he was examining his own oversized shoes. That's when a voice spoke up, "so it's love."
He lifted his head to see the old man looking at him in the mirror that was above his head. In his mood he would have ignored the man, but since he did give him a free ride he might as well answer back. "Yeah, how'd you figure."
"Well, it wasn't that hard by the look on your face after you saw those two love birds in the back. By the way the names Carl, what's yours?"
"The names Ron, by the way thanks again for the free ride. I'll pay you back later."
"Don't worry about it. If you want to even out the debt why don't you tell me why your were out in weather like this, you could catch your death."
Ron sighed, he honestly didn't want to talk but he might as well, this was a free ride. "Short story is that a crappy week had just finished on an even crapper note."
The old man merely chuckled to himself after hearing the soaked boy talk. Many would normally think a bus driver like himself wasn't that keen on people, but being observant for thieves and crooks riding the bus had given him a feeling when people were hurting. "Let me guess, you lost a girl and now you're drowning yourself in the rain over her."
For the first time since that afternoon sorrow had been replaced with shock on Ron's face. "How did you know that?"
A sad smile formed on the mans face as he replied, "Cause I found myself doing the same thing forty years ago. Her name was Jane and she was the most beautiful creature God had made with his own two hands. Even Jesus would have had to bow to her fantastic craftsmanship. Lush chocolate skin, silky hair and the most beautiful rump imaginable. So, who's your girl."
Ron now had replaced his look of shock with that of slightly creepy after hearing this strangers very descriptive talk about his girlfriend. Either-way he continued on, "her name is Kim. She has tan skin, red hair, also silky, and an ass that would probably make Jane look twice. By the way I'm also Jewish, could we keep the Jesus talk down."
At this news the driver burst out in a fit of laughter, "Sorry about that. If it makes you feel better though, I now declare this bus a religiously free bus. So, you want to tell me what happened?"
"I found out a couple months back that she had feelings for me. Even though I had feelings for her too I decided to end it there. Later I found out that she was under the control of some sort of device that brought emotions to the surface. After that we never talked about the feelings we had for each other, we just went day by day." Ron exclaimed his point by a long sigh at the end.
"Not entirely sure what all that talk about machines was, but what happened had to change the way you feel about her?"
"She found another guy named Eric. She told me yesterday that there going steady. I blew my chance in telling her how I felt about her. You'd think that knowing somebody for that amount of time it would be easier to confront them." Ron had to wipe away some water that collected around his eye, he hoped Carl had not seen it.
"I know exactly what you mean. I lost Jane to another man before I could tell her how I felt. Never got the chance to and what hurts is not telling her, but knowing she's out there with somebody that's not me." Carl looked into the mirror wait for a response.
Ron thought about this for a moment before asking, "What did you ever do about it?"
"I got married to another women, and when I saw got married I mean that I had to. Because of Jane I got drunk one night and woke up in another girl's bed. I found out a month later she was pregnant." The happiness that had adorned his face was no gone, given way to sorrow. "As the years past I still thought about her, even after my wife died. Now I'm sixty-two and I drive a bus for almost twelve hours a day so that I don't have to stay any longer in an empty home."
The busses brakes came to life as he slowly stopped the bus and opened the door to the last stop. The couple was already out the door when Ron got up. He was stopped by the gift of an umbrella from the outstretched hand of Carl. "Take it, many people leave stuff like this on the bus. And before you leave a word of advice. Don't end up a shell of a man like me, it is not a life worth living."
With that Ron said his good-byes and watched the bus leave. He opened the umbrella and started towards home with Carl's words playing in his mind.
I just want to say thank you to everyone who reviewed EndGame. It inspired me to write almost half a chapter in one day. God i hope it sounds good when i wake-up. On another note the talk Carl had with Ron was ment to help, now we just have to see if Ron uses it to help himself.
