Name:
Location: Madrid, Spain

I love eating Golden Delicious apples with peanut butter. I shop too much, drive an old car, and save my Starbucks money for traveling. Disillusioned women writers are my inspiration, especially Sylvia Plath and Sara Teasdale. I adore used book stores and fleamarkets.

4.04.2008

Thoughts from the Plaza de Francia, Las Rozas, España

We have all gotten off the bus, unexpectedly, but without being told. On a hill, the 625A has failed. It will not move forward, only backward, coasting in short slides until the driver slams on the brakes. A line of cars gathers on the hill behind us, easing around one by one into the opposite lane.

The sun is hot. The 629 comes and most people board it. Wherever the 629 goes, it´s not where I need to be. We loiter, a dozen of us strung along in the dappled shade of the budding trees. We are a 40-something woman in capris, a mechanic in navy blue, a teacher in pink. The driver is on the phone. Two police cars pass but do not stop to help, and traffic flows intermittenly around us. The driver is packing his grey backpack, gathering the money, shutting down the ticket machine.

At the top of the hill, a bus stops, the LS line. The drivers confer, explain. The first driver boards the LS bus and we follow, flashing our receipts and bus passes to prove we paid. He is a short man, timid, stoop-shouldered, who accepts each proof with a quiet "Pasa." In starting, the new bus squeals and we hold our breath - will this one die too? But no, everything is well. We continue home.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home