The turbulent girl dreamt a tempting tomorrow
The county bus is here. Her freezing feet can finally seek refuge on this four wheeled morning coffin. She walked up the stairs and emerged in suffocating warmth, mummified in a black winter feather-stuffed raincoat, from neck till below her knees. Her head and hands stick out from it like a stray penguin by the shore wanting to escape from the ugly seals towering the bus seats. Passengers glued to their seats as if they were treasures. Funny as those ideas may seem, but she was tired. She detests the daily routine of a tombish silence and a draining trip to and from Loudoun.
Her eyes are scouting for a window seat at the corners of the bus. She luckily found one, next to a blond young man who appeared important or so he tries to be. Soon as she asked him to let her inside, it was as if she’d asked him to pass her his favorite peanut butter sandwich. He silently collected his belongings and gave up his aisle seat and walked away. Strange as she hadn’t studied his features quite as perfectly as she would have wanted to in her good old days. she has a ring on her finger and shouldn’t double the glance to her favorite type, now that she’s taken, lest she’d lose her grace. That’s what her religion taught her. At least that one ain’t worth one bit of her attention.
Her eyes, glued to the window, watching nature waiting to unfold underneath the glooms of a cloudy winter. In her mind thoughts hustled, what could have possibly triggered “this”? and what is this? Is it racism? So her dark skin and hair made him think she must look Pakistani, Afghani, Persian or maybe Arabic. Perhaps, her Middle Eastern face reads terrorism, or close enough?
They crossed the Potomac! She couldn’t help but think that despite a lengthy and wealthy river the Potomac may be, it might not be as benevolent and giving as the River Nile. She was nostalgic, and anxious to live a fine spring day with friends and family by the river. After all, she was a turbulent girl that dreamt a tempting tomorrow.
(to be continued)
May Kosba
Blackvelvetsea 