On the bus

One Man's Web > Where I Live > On the bus

"Democracy! Is it a democracy if I'm the boss and I say so?
'We're having a democracy!'
"Does that make a democracy?"

He's 18 and laughing with his two mates. We're on the late 224 back to Elizabeth. It is a funny bus. You never know what you'll meet here at night. One night while we waited for the Blair Athol bus to arrive this bloke says to our driver,

"Can you wait while I nick over behind the car wash and take a leak?"

This is OK so he races off into the shadows. The Blair Athol bus arrives and while the drivers are chatting he gets back on through the middle door. So when the other bus goes our driver's sitting there peering out past the car wash, while the whole lot of us know our boy with the bursting bladder is back on board. In the end he says,

"Christ Is he taking a leak or what?"

And the whole bus starts laughing. 

"Oh. Sorry, I'm already here!" shouts Mr Innocent from up the back. 

The driver shakes his head and mutters something unprintable, and we lurch off into the dark.

Tonight there are only seven of us on board. The three talkers up the back are 15 to 18 in casual jeans and sneakers, The other four are tidy and clean . We don't fit the stereotypes of the northern suburbs. One of the four is reading. The other three are very obviously tired from work. Two of them continually lean forward, head on arms on the seat in front of them.

It's a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. For some reason I remember how Julie the copper says to me that there's just as much domestic violence in Unley as the north, but the women won't talk about it because they've got too much to loose.

First off has a bottle of Blue and White spring water and a can of dog food in a supermarket bag. No rainwater tank at home, but he does have a dog. He might be a country boy. He has a certain fresh face about him.

Number two, short hair and neat in his Wu-Tang jacket is ringing mum to say he is just getting off the bus. He's definitely a schoolkid. .. maybe he's just done a short shift at MacDonald's.

The reader has a briefcase and a suit. He's better than us... I rate a supercilious, slightly hostile glance as he gets off at Salisbury station. The other two step off heavily at Salisbury, too weary to look at anyone.

So it's just me and the three as the bus rolls around the roundabouts of the Salisbury town centre. The train is only just leaving Adelaide so I've stayed on the bus where it is warm, winding about in the darkened back streets. My mate Peter, the bus driver, tells me he gets lost out here.

We lean the long circle around the Holden's roundabout with the Central's colours sprayed in the middle. Then hard left down another darkened street. This must be the bus route with the most turns in the whole country.

Stray phrases travel the bus from the boys at the back. Comments on the tennis centre which floods the middle of the park with light. Then cars. Now religion. First a brief exchange about the bible verses on the back of the buses. Then Jesus this, Jesus that. Nothing hostile, just another part of an easy conversation.

For once, I'm not the last one off the bus! The boys are going right to the end, and I leave them laughing as I take the short cut across the park to Holy Cross, and around the corner to home.

Men's Business Mud Map Theology Studies Conversations Thinking Where I Live Sermons Mark Politics Words Computing Jan's Links Fundamentalism Sexuality in the Uniting Church  Replies, Responses, Debate Latest Pages     © Jan Thomas