Looking at newspaper*
Did you know that 700 million people get on a bus every year, and only 500 of them come from Ascot Grove. But everyday on the bus, I see around 20 people which means technically, I only see *count in head* 4% of these people! And, God, that’s not even counting the days where I’m sick or on vacation! There’s so many people that I will never meet, and for the ones I do, I don’t ever actually get to know them, you know? Like, I know of them, but I don’t actually know who they are, or why they’re on this bus. But what I do know about these people is facts, and those are everything. Like, how, every morning I wake up at 6:30, and make it just in time for this 7 AM bus to the library. The tall man over there *point* always carries a blue mug and sits in the front row because he probably wouldn’t fit comfortably anywhere else, and that girl in the bright orange scarf never sits in a window seat—maybe because of motion sickness or something like that, You see, all you have to do is watch them, and over time, you’ll just know. But lately… I can’t help but think, is this all I’ll ever know?
Isn’t that crazy? We’ve been on the same bus for the past nine years, but I don’t know anything about you guys. I mean, there’s not a statistic that can tell me who you are, or what you have for lunch everyday. You guys are people with lives that I don’t know anything about. I mean, you could be the kindest person in the world and I may never know! What if you prefer pineapple on pizza, or cats over dogs? And you, you always help the old man off the bus everyday. You just seem so kind and selfless and… Who knows? We might end up together someday. We could live in that pretty blue house. The one on the corner of Brown St. that we pass by everyday, and we’d have two kids. *start rambling* Three is way too many, but with only one, they might get lonely. But, umm… *shake head* you’d come home from your job at the newspaper, and I would spend the day painting and taking care of Mary and John. We’d be happy. A family. But that life… It’s one that I’ll only ever be able to fantasize about. I don’t even know your favorite color, and I pass by you every single day! And our lives… Our large, complicated lives will only ever be connected by a single bus ride.