Greyhound Rider

There was a time in my life when I just wanted to drift and roam as I didn't feel like doing anything constructive. I had just lost a job that I had worked at for over a decade and I was sour at life in general. I was only in my late twenties and I wanted to do a little bit of traveling even though it was going to be on a tight budget. My car had recently been towed to the junk yard and I didn't feel like hitchhiking so then only possible means of travel was by a Greyhound bus. 

​I had made up my mind to take a trip in early March. The thaw was on and I thought that the weather was going to be nice. So on March 3rd I took a city bus down to the bus terminal at ten o'clock at night. I was going to leave Edmonton at 11pm with my first destination being Calgary. The bus ride was going to take just over three hours. I paid for my ticket and waited. 

The terminal was empty except for a couple of shady looking characters that kept looking at me in an attempt to size me up. I looked away and then got out of my seat and walked over to the vending machine to look at my reflection. I could still see the two men watching me. I had to go to the washroom but I knew that if I did one of the two hoods would follow me inside, so all I could do is hold it until I got on the bus. 

I waited patiently for the bus to arrive but for some reason it was late. When it finally came I realized that only me and another lady were going to board the bus. The driver looked through my bag and gave me the nod to board. I passed through a small hallway and climbed the steps onto the bus where I decided to to sit near the front. About three minutes later the lady boarded the bus. I glanced at her quickly. She was in her later twenties, wore too much make up and walked with a limp or possibly had a broken heel. She muttered to herself as she stumbled around. I could feel that she was trying to make eye contact with me so I pretended to be sleeping. She didn't buy it and tried to talk to me. I nearly gagged from her smoker's breath. I rolled over and hoped she would go away but she didn't and of all the empty seats on the bus she decided to sit to sit right in behind me. The first thing she did was kick my seat a few times and then she started to hack. But it was not your normal hacking cough it was one that brought up phlegm. I could only imagine where she was spitting it. She kept muttering. I thought about getting up and moving to another seat but she seemed like the type that would make an issue of it. She continued to cough violently. I wondered how I was going to make it through three hours of this. By the time I got to Calgary I would likely have tuberculosis. 

Then about five minutes went by and she did not cough. I hoped that she was dead. But as soon as I had the positive thought she started to cough again. I couldn't take it anymore so I grabbed my bag and moved right to the front of the bus. I heard her call me a name but I didn't care because now I was free of her. I leaned back in my seat and just as I was relaxing another female tramp got on the bus. Again I pretended to be sleeping. Seconds later she kicked my seat and started sneezing. 

I cringed and couldn't take it anymore. I decided to hop off the bus and walked home.