[[Still A Girly Girl]]

Aug 23, 2005

You know that dream where you’re at school and you’re naked, and the entire classroom is full and everyone’s staring and laughing and you know that if you can just find an empty desk they’ll all go away? If you replace the classroom with a Greyhound bus full of people who won’t make eye contact I just experienced that in the waking world. Well, I wasn’t naked.

The driver took my ticket and told me that he had exactly two seats open. There was a young boy standing next to me with a ticket in his hand, too.

“You two are it,” he said. “Wait until everyone’s on the bus so you can see which seats are taken.”

Weighed down by a backpack stuffed with clothes and dollar store purchases, a diaper bag full of things for the baby, and my camera bag I walked up the aisle apologizing and asking, “Is that seat open?” Everyone mumbled that there’s someone sitting there and looked away. When I turned around to see if maybe I missed something, the bus started to move. I was only halfway back down the aisle and was forced to shout “Excuse me!” to get the driver to stop.

I stood at the front of the coach as the driver rationalized that the bus had been full and two people had gotten off, so there should be a seat. He checked tickets and left me standing there for what felt like forever. By the time he returned and started thumbing through his tickets, saying, “Well, it all checks out,” I was thoroughly humiliated and tears were burning at my eyelids.

“There’s another bus in an hour, so at least you won’t be completely stranded.” He handed my ticket back and told me to go back inside and talk to the agent.

I cried in the bathroom for two or three minutes, but I got to Seattle in one piece, and my nephew is absolutely adorable.

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Posted by erynthenerd @ 9:35 PM

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