"El Autobus" - Act One, Scene 2

Ms. Smith has now found a seat in which to hunker down for her ride home. For now, she is relatively comfortable, as the ride hasn't merged onto the interstate or even a major street. She decides to make the best of this next minute 1/2 in the best way she knows how - to pray. "Please, don't let me die!"

The bus, after turning the corner onto the first major street has now arrived at it's first stop since Ms. Smith's arrival. Ten people who are obviously very warm and cranky, creep up the tiny bus stairway and make their way towards a seat. Two women who appear to be good friends or at least work associates, wink at Ms. Smith. They know how stressful this ride can make anyone on here, especially Ms. Smith. They jokingly close their eyes and make the sign of the cross. All of this is unknown to "Blind as a Bat" driver, as the two women are sitting directly behind her chair and the glass wall barricade between them. The two women lean over and whisper to Ms. Smith and point:

"You should sit here, behind her. Then you can't see ahead of you, only just to the left."
"Thanks! That actually sounds like a good idea. I'll do that"

Ms. Smith makes her way to the left side and picks a seat, just as the bus has started to move again. BAAB unexpectedly and quickly swerves to the furthest left lane and if she hadn't noticed the man in the red taurus behind her, she would have undoubtedly pushed him up and over the concrete island. Instead of checking the traffic behind her and safely moving to the right to let the taurus pass, she instead speeds up (as quickly as a 20-ton vehicle can speed up in one block) and holds her emergency horn down until they both approach the double-laned exit to 394. While both of them are sitting and waiting for the exit light to turn green, the red taurus creeps up beside BAAB and flips the bird. BAAB laughs, pulls the microphone to her mouth and yells over the P.A.,

"DID YOU SEE THAT? HE FLIPPED ME OFF. THAT MAKES ME WANT TO PUSH HIM INTO THE CONTRETE WALL. SOMETIMES I TRY TO SCARE THEM SO THEY GET THE MESSAGE AND LEAVE ME ALONE. SOME PEOPLE DON'T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE, I TELL YA"

Ms. Smith frantically searches in her work bag to find a pen and the closest thing to a peice of paper. She scribbles the bus number, exact time and bus route, location and double-checks to see that the Transit Line is in the address book of her cell phone. She then looks ahead (big mistake) through the wide front window to witness the trouble that is about to ensue.

The bus is approaching 394 at break-neck speed while remaining traffic is at a standstill.

Ms. Smith looks over at her two bus associates and says,

TO BE CONTINUED...