Today on my way home from work I was transported back in time to precisely nine years ago. I was no longer in Montreal, but rather Russia?
I boarded the bus as usual, this time taking the 45 Express coming home from the gym instead of straight from work. I was lucky and took my favourite seat right up at the front by the bus driver. There weren't many people in line when I got there but they just kept coming, and coming...
and coming. So many people piled on the bus it was rather laughable, until more and more came. Then it just got downright uncomfortable. When I thought about as many people could pack into the bus as was possible, more came. 1, 2... 5...... 7! To fight the immediate claustrophobic panic attack that started within me I just told myself to breathe. In and out. In and out. It didn't really help. Before the green light went on for the bus to depart, a few more people squeezed in. There was absolutely no room so some were forced to stand on the stairs by the door. I thought to myself,
that can't be safe. One of these unfortunate souls stuck on the stairs reached out to wrap his arm around the pole I sat right against, lunging the left half his upper body practically on my lap. Care for a shoulder to lean on darling? I looked to the lady seated left of me and shared a grimacing laugh. Suddenly I had just acquired a new boyfriend.
Finally the green light came on and we were off. The girl standing directly in front of me was clearly having difficulty staying upright that I almost offered her my lap to rest her dangling bags on until I realized my bag was already laying on my lap, and half of my new boyfriend whom I am going to call Sasha. Just as we were about to leave the terminus the bus driver made a quick emergency stop plummeting the masses of people forward. Thankfully there were no casualties and we carried on. I suddenly missed Giuseppe.
I clutched my iPod and closed my eyes, breathing slowly and methodically in an attempt to block out all that was going on around me. I was in the soundtrack of my mind, focusing on the music, picturing the band, the video... dancing on their treadmills... until BANG! We hit a bump. Breathe in, breathe out...
The windows of the bus were drenched in humidity and the darkness of outside made us feel like we were in a world of our own. The bus driver could be taking us anywhere and we wouldn't even know. I could barely see him even though I was seated just four feet away. Occasionally I would get a glimpse through a crack in the sea of bodies and every time he had the same grin on his face as if he got great pleasure out of driving a can full of human sardines.
A girl standing to the left of me had mastered the Curious George. It takes fine concentration to stand upright with one arm held high over your head grasping a bar while your other arm not only holds a swinging bag, but a book you are able to read. Periodically those of us close to her got a glance of more of her than we, or even she bargained for, as her rather large stomach spilled out over the top of her jeans. Something tells me if she knew that morning that she would be on display like this at 7pm she wouldn't have chosen that outfit. Still, she mustered the occasional smile and laugh in response to whatever it was she was reading. Clearly it was more entertaining than Sasha's electrical engineering text book he clung on to. I managed to read an odd sentance here and there, but lost interest after reading about voltage and AC inputs.
Vladimir the bus driver continued on as if this all was a normal occurrence for him. It probably was. I mustered a couple more calming yoga breaths and fought as best I could the icey cold draft that had found its way down my back. In and out. In and out.
After twenty arduous minutes we made it to our destination unscathed, but haggard.
As I stepped out of the bus I discovered we were in Panama... but the sun wasn't shining. Sasha and I parted ways. It wasn't meant to be.
Gathering my bearings I proceded to walk home, hoping to shed the memory of the bus ride behind me. As I turned onto my street an SUV drove by zooming through a puddle the size of lake Ontario drenching me in his wake. If only I hadn't left my umbrella in that taxi last May.
It's days like this that make me wonder why I don't just buy a car.
