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Description
I had been awake for a couple of days, pondering things that would not let up in my mind, things that wouldn't leave my mind until I thought about them. They were not disturbing or manipulative passages, like most other thoughts that usually embed themselves into my head, they were just there. It's an on-going saga that repeats itself, much like the daily routine of waking up, showering, fixing your self in the mirror, getting dressed and everything else that may follow your 'getting ready to face the day.' Simple thought, is all they were.
.
The lateness of the hour, being nearly four o'clock in the morning, was far from my best interest to leave the house, never mind to go for a walk. Though on this night, the fresh air was calling out to me on this fourth day of November. It beckoned me to the out doors of the early morning, convincing me that the cool, brisk air of autumn would relieve the pressure that weighed down my mind, making my head feel so full of empty habit. The air sighed in the darkness and the darkness drew me out. I was comfortable in the somber hours of the day and they teamed together and withdrew my will to sit indoors any longer.
.
I walked around a couple of blocks, inhaling deep breaths of cold air, in through my nose out through my mouth. It was something I had learned in jujitsu classes as a child and it had helped alleviate some of the weight that was in my resting on my mind. I watched my breath leave my body, and pass over my face in huffs of warm clouds with each step I took closer to where ever it was that I was going. It was as if I was sending smoke signals to anything that might be around, paying attention to my greed for new oxygen, assuring it that I would not take all of it, just what I needed. Assuring these invisible onlookers that the trees would replenish anything that I was willing to give back and they would make it fresh again. I saw nothing that would impose a threat to me, so I walked for some distance, not realizing how far I was straying from home. Still breathing deep and exhaling slowly I sat at a bus stop and let my eyes close, contemplating my long walk home......
.
I woke up some time later, teeth chattering, body curled up with my knees and shivering, wrapped in my coat. I woke up to a stranger sitting beside me, looking at me in this most awkward manner. I was startled out of my incoherency and into awake alert.
.
He was clean cut, middle-aged, maybe late forty's or early fifty's. His hair was dark with silver streaks and his brow was similar. His eyes were clear water blue and traced with fine wrinkles of aged wisdom, narrow and attentive. His dress was that of nearly new, all dark grays and blacks and he held a hat in his palm, that could have been navy, but looked to be black.
.
He said to me, "You don't look like the type that would take another's bed for the night. I was going to wake you and then thought better of it."
I just looked at him, still under the shock of where I was and where I wasn't.
He went on, "It's not safe for your kind to be alone in this area, at night, in someone else's bed." His eye was level with mine, but not once did he look in.
Now I'm thinking... WTF? Someone else's bed.?...I'm at a bus stop for crying out loud...
.
He seemed to respond to my unspoken thought. "I thought about waking you up and sending you off, but there was something about the way you slept......" He trailed off, still eyeing me uncertainly.
.
By this time, I was getting extremely freaked out and wondering who in the hell this guy was...How long has this guy been watching me? I hope he was just watching and didn't... My thought was interrupted as he went on.
.
"Your bed doesn't belong at a bus stop, people like you shouldn't be here, sleeping in someone else's bed. It's not safe. It's not smart. People like you piss me off. But that's not why I didn't wake you. I didn't wake you because you looked like you needed somewhere else to be. I know you won't be back here, not to sleep anyway. Now go home, your head is clear and your body is cold. Sorry I didn't have a blanket for you. I was going to put my coat over you, but it wouldn't have been proper. I sat here, instead and made sure no one bothered you. The bus starts early you know and some one would have woken you. You needed to be here and you needed to be cold and you needed to be sleeping. Even if it was my bed that you slept in, you didn't know it was mine. People like you start out like people like me. But the difference between you and people like them is you don't take for granted people like me. " He stopped short, looking past me now.
.
The bus came around the corner and he waved it down. It stopped and he told the driver as he ushered me onto the bus, "My ticket is now her ticket, take her home." He turned and sauntered up the sidewalk without a wave or goodbye. He was gone.
.
I was in so much that shock my actions were robot like and I boarded the bus with no hesitation, just a look of disbelief and my clicking teeth. The double doors closed and the bus went into motion.
.
The bus driver was one who I have seen regularly on my routes to home from various places. After a few minutes of letting the warmth wrap itself around my shivers and quiet them, he said to me..."he doesn't do that for just anyone you know, but you're not like the others. He didn't hurt you. He wouldn't have even if he had it in him-which he doesn't-He saw something in you-this is your stop." My body was mechanical and I lifted off myself of the seat and as I left the bus doors, he said, "Don't let him down"
.
.
.
.

.........I'm still in shock.
.
.
.
.
.
d.m.c. 11/09/02

Description
I had been awake for a couple of days, pondering things that would not let up in my mind, things that wouldn't leave my mind until I thought about them. They were not disturbing or manipulative passages, like most other thoughts that usually embed themselves into my head, they were just there. It's an on-going saga that repeats itself, much like the daily routine of waking up, showering, fixing your self in the mirror, getting dressed and everything else that may follow your 'getting ready to face the day.' Simple thought, is all they were.
.
The lateness of the hour, being nearly four o'clock in the morning, was far from my best interest to leave the house, never mind to go for a walk. Though on this night, the fresh air was calling out to me on this fourth day of November. It beckoned me to the out doors of the early morning, convincing me that the cool, brisk air of autumn would relieve the pressure that weighed down my mind, making my head feel so full of empty habit. The air sighed in the darkness and the darkness drew me out. I was comfortable in the somber hours of the day and they teamed together and withdrew my will to sit indoors any longer.
.
I walked around a couple of blocks, inhaling deep breaths of cold air, in through my nose out through my mouth. It was something I had learned in jujitsu classes as a child and it had helped alleviate some of the weight that was in my resting on my mind. I watched my breath leave my body, and pass over my face in huffs of warm clouds with each step I took closer to where ever it was that I was going. It was as if I was sending smoke signals to anything that might be around, paying attention to my greed for new oxygen, assuring it that I would not take all of it, just what I needed. Assuring these invisible onlookers that the trees would replenish anything that I was willing to give back and they would make it fresh again. I saw nothing that would impose a threat to me, so I walked for some distance, not realizing how far I was straying from home. Still breathing deep and exhaling slowly I sat at a bus stop and let my eyes close, contemplating my long walk home......
.
I woke up some time later, teeth chattering, body curled up with my knees and shivering, wrapped in my coat. I woke up to a stranger sitting beside me, looking at me in this most awkward manner. I was startled out of my incoherency and into awake alert.
.
He was clean cut, middle-aged, maybe late forty's or early fifty's. His hair was dark with silver streaks and his brow was similar. His eyes were clear water blue and traced with fine wrinkles of aged wisdom, narrow and attentive. His dress was that of nearly new, all dark grays and blacks and he held a hat in his palm, that could have been navy, but looked to be black.
.
He said to me, "You don't look like the type that would take another's bed for the night. I was going to wake you and then thought better of it."
I just looked at him, still under the shock of where I was and where I wasn't.
He went on, "It's not safe for your kind to be alone in this area, at night, in someone else's bed." His eye was level with mine, but not once did he look in.
Now I'm thinking... WTF? Someone else's bed.?...I'm at a bus stop for crying out loud...
.
He seemed to respond to my unspoken thought. "I thought about waking you up and sending you off, but there was something about the way you slept......" He trailed off, still eyeing me uncertainly.
.
By this time, I was getting extremely freaked out and wondering who in the hell this guy was...How long has this guy been watching me? I hope he was just watching and didn't... My thought was interrupted as he went on.
.
"Your bed doesn't belong at a bus stop, people like you shouldn't be here, sleeping in someone else's bed. It's not safe. It's not smart. People like you piss me off. But that's not why I didn't wake you. I didn't wake you because you looked like you needed somewhere else to be. I know you won't be back here, not to sleep anyway. Now go home, your head is clear and your body is cold. Sorry I didn't have a blanket for you. I was going to put my coat over you, but it wouldn't have been proper. I sat here, instead and made sure no one bothered you. The bus starts early you know and some one would have woken you. You needed to be here and you needed to be cold and you needed to be sleeping. Even if it was my bed that you slept in, you didn't know it was mine. People like you start out like people like me. But the difference between you and people like them is you don't take for granted people like me. " He stopped short, looking past me now.
.
The bus came around the corner and he waved it down. It stopped and he told the driver as he ushered me onto the bus, "My ticket is now her ticket, take her home." He turned and sauntered up the sidewalk without a wave or goodbye. He was gone.
.
I was in so much that shock my actions were robot like and I boarded the bus with no hesitation, just a look of disbelief and my clicking teeth. The double doors closed and the bus went into motion.
.
The bus driver was one who I have seen regularly on my routes to home from various places. After a few minutes of letting the warmth wrap itself around my shivers and quiet them, he said to me..."he doesn't do that for just anyone you know, but you're not like the others. He didn't hurt you. He wouldn't have even if he had it in him-which he doesn't-He saw something in you-this is your stop." My body was mechanical and I lifted off myself of the seat and as I left the bus doors, he said, "Don't let him down"
.
.
.
.

.........I'm still in shock.
.
.
.
.
.
d.m.c. 11/09/02