Getting on the Bus….
Jackie pulled the knotted sash of her wool coat tighter around her person she stepped outside into the brisk winter chill. Immediately, her breath caught, small patches of it visible in the air. It was mid-February, and the cold-snap that usually accompanied a Minnesota winter had officially set in the ground. Only two months until summer, she reminded herself silently as she made her way quickly toward the bus stop, her head tucked low to avoid the harsh winds.
She hated taking the bus, but with a limited income and sky-high rent, she had little choice in the matter. Even if she could have afforded a car, she doubted she’d have enough left over to pay insurance and then gas. Having grown up in a small town where there were no taxis or subways let alone a bus line, this style of transportation had taken some getting used to.
Worse, working in the busiest part of the downtown area, some of the riders could be…well, eccentric wasn’t quite the right word. Colorful, maybe. And sometimes a little scary. Like the fellow yesterday, who’d reeked of stale cigarette smoke and something from the garbage. He’d sat in the seat directly in front of hers and had carried on a large, mostly unintelligible conversation with himself.
“Rat bastard,” Jackie had heard him muttering as the bus lumbered down the rough streets. “I’d give my eyeteeth to set that damn bird, right. Peaches, that’s what I like. A good, juicy peach right off the tree…”
And then, as he’d lifted himself to his feet, swaying toward the front of the bus to get off at the next stop, Jackie had spied a very wicked looking knife peeking out of his jacket flaps. She shivered remembering that; and this time it had nothing to do with the cold.
Before Jackie had time to let that image fully work its way through her consciousness, she heard the unmistakable belch of the bus as it slowly pulled into view. Chucked back to reality, she watched its large impressive body shudder to a squealing halt in front of where she stood. Shrugging off her thoughts, Jackie smartly alight as the doors whooshed open, the driver offering her a begrudging smile as she climbed on board.
It was this or walk. Or, even worse, go limping back home to her parents, admitting once and for all, that she couldn’t hack it out in the big city. It was exactly what they were waiting for her to do. Which made it entirely out of the question. Really, the bus wasn’t so bad.
Okay, so someone had put a little too much curry in their lunch. And yes, that woman was outright glaring at anyone who bothered to glance her way but there, there was a crew-cut styled, polo-sporting college kid, and oh—as Jackie advanced further down the rubber-lined aisle, her eyes scouting out a place to sit—there was a well dressed man with a briefcase talking on an expensive-looking phone. She ignored the woman wearing the two sizes too-small yoga pants, her greasy hair matted anyhow to her head…
Marching determinedly forward, it was something of a relief that Jackie finally spied an open spot. Quickly sliding into the cold, plastic seat, she turned her gaze out the window. Cold slivers of air managed to seep easily through the glass panel. But hey, it beat standing. It was a twenty minute trip from work to her apartment. Settling in, she tried to make herself comfortable.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been staring out the window when she became aware of a commotion breaking out between two passengers across the aisle from her. It was only as their voice grew increasingly louder, increasingly hotter, that she found her head turning—
“You lying son-of-a-bitch!” The words, a high-pitched squeal of sound, came from a red-faced woman.
Jackie tried to avert her gaze, but not before she saw the man sitting beside the woman smirk. This was apparently the wrong thing to do. With a crack, he was slapped for his efforts at nonchalance.
Now quite a few heads were turning in their direction. Jackie had given up any pretense to the otherwise at this point; now she was outright staring at the couple, who, oddly didn’t seem to notice, or care about, all the attention they were gaining.
“You stupid slut!” The man roared, his hand coming up to caress the pink welt her palm had left on his face. “What did you think, anyway? That you’re so special? Please.” His sneer showed of a set of yellowed teeth.
“You disgusting son of a—! That skank aint got half of what I got,” the woman shouted, her hands sliding suggestively up and down her body, which juggled and flopped about unattractively as the bus’s tires hit ruts in the cracked roadway.
The woman must have weighted somewhere near 250lbs.
The man snickered again. “Naw—but what she does have is in all the right places.” The man had to be drunk. At least, Jackie hoped so. To be taking that way….
His comment earned him another smack. Only this time, he grabbed her wrist, capturing it between the hard lines of his fingers. His eyes looked dangerous as he stared her down.
“One more time…” he threatened in a low, even tone.
“Oh I’ve got plenty more where that came from,” she spit back at him, her jowls quivering with the words, her chin jutting up to show her lack of fear.
Jackie swallowed. Things were escalating rather quickly. What had started as a cheap form of entertainment was hurtling quickly toward something uncomfortable, violent even.
The man moved to stand up. “I’m out of here,” he scoffed, clumsily gaining his feet.
He only managed to make it a step or two though. Rushing to her own feet, the woman reached out just in time to grab hold of the back of his shirt, halting him.
“Oh, I don’t think so,” she cried. “I’m not finished.”
Facing one another now, they stood there, in the middle of the aisle way, screaming at one another. Jackie sighed under her breath, their words floating unheard over her head. Closing her eyes, she spared a moment to envision the day when she wouldn’t have to deal with incidents like this. She’d have her own car. It didn’t even matter what kind. It would be hers and hers alone. Softly, she smiled.
Opening her eyes again, she was forced to face up with reality. The woman pushed the man. He stumbled backward, his hands closing into fists as he took an intimidating step toward her…
Looking out the window, anything to escape the pitiful display going on before her, Jackie realized with something of a shock that she was actually pretty close to her apartment. She only had about six blocks to go. Six more blocks until blissful silence. No. Five more blocks now. With an impatient tap of her foot she waited, waiting…
And then, seeing her stop ahead, Jackie reached up to pull on the lever above her head, signaling to the driver that she was getting off. Gaining her feet, her purse dangling over one shoulder, she felt her stomach muscles tighten. There was nothing for it. She’d have to shimmy around the feuding couple. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out onto the passage way.
Neither of them seemed inclined to move out of her way. Obscenities peppered the air, veins throbbed in one another’s forehead and neck, elbows and hands jostled and pushed….
As Jackie went to squeeze past them, her body pressed up tight against the row of seats, a “pardon me” halfway out of her mouth, she felt it: a hot, searing rip. Something slicing through her skin. Her breath wheezed, hissing with instinctive, unexpected pain. Looking down in disbelief, Jackie saw something protruding out of her side, a glint of shiny metallic, a splatter of blood.
And then, suddenly, it didn’t hurt anymore. Her legs wobbled, buckling under her weight. She must have screamed, she thought in a daze as she started to droop to the floor, because suddenly a man was there, cradling her on the ground, his voice commanding, authoritative.
“Someone call 911,” she heard him shout. “Everyone else, stand back. Give her some room.”
“What’s happened to her?”
“She’s been stabbed.”
Jackie frowned. They couldn’t be talking about her, could they? Stabbed?
The man’s voice was close suddenly, soft against her ear “…just hang on…I’ve got you, just hang out, okay? ….”
Then Jackie didn’t hear anything at all.
