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just get back on the road,” I said,
looking past her toward the three boys and the bus entrance.
    “ The
driver said that this would be a short stop. I think we are ahead of
schedule and he wants to make up for the time he will lose in
traffic. Where are you headed?”
    “ Las
Vegas, to see my mom.”
    “ Las
Vegas, huh?” The old lady looked as if she didn’t approve
but, to her credit, she didn’t say anything else.
    It was obvious that she
wasn’t going to leave my side, so I resigned myself to the fact
that I would have company. She watched me as I watched the three
boys. They were looking around as if they had lost something or
somebody. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I felt like I was the
object of their search. It was probably just my nerves. How could I
possibly rate that kind of attention? I shook off the feeling just as
the bus driver came stumbling out of the restaurant.
    The bus began to fill
up with passengers as the three boys looked around. The engine
started and the driver took the tickets of the new arrivals all
before I stepped out from my hiding spot. The old lady walked just
steps in front of me as we approached the bus doors. I lifted the
hood of my sweatshirt as I tried to hide my face from the three boys.
The old lady, on the other hand, looked straight ahead and confronted
the trio. Either out of respect or contempt, the three moved out of
the way for her, all the while continuing to look behind her. It was
strange that they didn’t appear to see me standing right there.
My first instinct was to wave a hand in their faces to make sure I
wasn’t simply being ignored, but the old lady stayed my hand
while gesturing for me to board the bus ahead of her.
    The boy with the white
hair stiffened as I passed and turned his head toward me as if
looking for something. He continued to stare at the space that I had
just passed by until the old lady poked him in the stomach and
lectured him on how he should be a gentleman and help her onto the
bus. The trio quickly jumped into action, almost throwing the old
lady onto the top step of the bus’s interior. The other
passengers and I reached out to catch her, since she should have been
off balance after being handled so roughly, but she landed squarely
on her feet and wobbled to her window seat.
    The next leg of the
trip was marked by multiple stops and tons of traffic. The driver had
to maneuver around several accidents and lanes that were closed due
to construction. We finally limped into the parking lot of a
restaurant around 2 in the afternoon and I was starving. I jumped out
of my seat and waited for the old lady to go ahead of me but,
surprisingly, she wasn’t there. She must have left the bus
while I was busy looking through my maps of the Las Vegas Strip. I
shrugged and departed the bus with the rest of the passengers.
    The restaurant appeared
to be clean which made me hopeful for the condition of the restroom.
It was bright white with three stalls, one of which was already
occupied when I went in. I quickly chose the one furthest from the
door and proceeded to wash my hands afterward. I looked into the
stainless steel mirror and was horrified by what I saw. My mahogany
colored skin had the imprint marks from the jacket that I used as a
pillow and I had major eye buggers. It was a good thing that I didn’t
know anyone around here, because I looked homeless. I washed my face
and put my dreadlocked hair back into a ponytail, took a deep breath
and turned to leave, running smack into someone.
    I had heard the
occupant of the other stall flush and open the door, I just hadn’t
expected her to be standing directly behind me, but there she was.
And she was a lot sturdier than her 5’5” frame should be
because I should have knocked her down. Instead, she steadied me by
holding my elbow, looked up into my eyes and smiled.
    “ Sorry
about that. You okay?” Tabitha asked sincerely.
    “ Yeah,
I think so”, I replied, wondering more how I