Bussed Around

      Sarah was dozing off.  Her older brother, Harold, was sitting next to her talking to a gentleman across the aisle.  Harry was going on about his achievements: valedictorian, top of his class, and quarterback on the school football team.  The droning of his voice and the steady hum of the bus’s diesel engine made her eyes heavy, and soon her head was bobbing.

The bus slowed down when they reached the city, and the change in pace woke her up.  Through sleepy eyes she saw the tall grey buildings, and the black shiny streets drenched in rain.  They had crossed two states, and she was happy to finally see the bus station.  They had the afternoon to visit the big city, before their uncle came to pick them up.  They would then have an hour of driving to get to his big ranch house.  It was the first time they made this trip alone, and Harry was enjoying the role of know-it-all big brother a little too much.

While looking at the bus schedule on his laptop, Harry said smugly, “Hello sleepyhead.  While you were drooling, I planned our whole afternoon.”  He looked at his watch: “There is a bus at 1:15 directly to the to the baseball stadium, which gives us an hour for lunch”.  She shot him an angry look:”But you’re supposed to take me to the art museum!”  Harry rolled his eyes.  “Yeah yeah, don’t worry when the game ends we will pop in to your museum for a few minutes.”

Ignoring her furious eyes, Harry picked up his neat little travel bag and walked straight off the bus.  She was left to drag the overstuffed duffle bag down the tight aisle.  Even for Harry, this was cruel and unusual treatment.  She had done her year-end school project on Ancient Rome, and for once, her grades were just as high as his.  Her reward was SUPPOSED to be this trip to the museum, which featured a large Roman exhibition.  But with her parents hundreds of miles away, he was changing things.  She wanted to scream.

She got off the bus, and scanned the crowd for him.  Remembering his plans for lunch, she walked to the bus station and found the restaurant.  Harry was seated, discussing the menu with the waitress.  Sarah dragged her big bag to the table, glaring as she sat down across from him.  Harry was charming the waitress, making her giggle.  Flustered and out of breathe, Sarah placed her order.  As usual, the waitress walked away thinking that Harold Williams was the model gentleman, and his younger sister was a bit disappointing.  It was always the same.  Her family, her cousins, her schoolmates…he charmed and amazed them.  He always got his way, and now he was going to drag her to a soggy baseball game.  She didn’t know whether to scream or cry.  She did know that neither would matter.

Silently, she glared out the window behind Harry, noticing that a large group of people had gathered.  A bus pulled up and they started to file in.  As the food arrived, she realized that many in the crowd wore baseball jerseys or caps, and carried signs that read “Go TEAM Go”.  Was this the bus to the baseball game?  Looking at the clock hanging on the restaurant wall over Harry’s head, she saw the time was 1:15.  Of course!  They had changed time zones and Harry hadn’t changed the time on his watch!  She wanted to break out laughing, but she kept quiet and ate her food.  She ate slowly.

Behind Harry, a second bus pulled up, taking in more of the crowd.  Sarah asked Harry who was in town to play the home team.  Harry went on, explaining in great detail who would win the game, and by how much.  When the last bus pulled away, she dabbed her mouth with a napkin and asked him, in a sweet voice: “Harry, if there was no baseball game today, would we have gone to the museum all afternoon?”  Looking at his watch, he muttered “Yeah, sure”.  Not noticing her smile, Harry picked up his neat little travel bag and walked straight out of the restaurant.  As she zigzagged between the tables, her bag didn’t seem nearly as heavy.  Soon she would be immersed in Ancient Rome, and Harry would be looking at his laptop trying to understand what had happened to that bus.