A Bus Ride from LV LAX to UCLA

by cAmilla Wu in LAX, U.S.A.

   "Hi, is this the bus to UCLA?" "Yes, Madam. Good morning." "Thank you. Good morning." It was a beautiful day with the lovely sunshine! Even the breeze was quite joyful. I had a plan and would love to spend my time on campus and also I needed to do some research in the library. There weren't too many passengers on board since this was only the second stop from  the terminal. There were still fifty minutes to go before this bus arrived UCLA. I had a book and a bottle of water with me as usual. I was so ready for the ride. Off I went!

    The bus stopped again to pick up passengers. "Excuse me, does this bus go to the train station?" A traveller seemed to lose his way. "No. But I can take you to next stop. And you can transit from there." "I'm sorry. What did you say?" The traveller looked confused."This bus doesn't go to the train station." "Do you know which bus I can take?" "You can take No. 4xx" "No. 4xx?" "Yes." "Where should I go to take the bus?" "You can go that way," pointing to the direction the driver answered patiently." "Or you can wait here for another bus to come." "Wait here?" "Yes. Here," the driver tried to offer the help. "Right. This is not the bus for you! Just wait for another one." A passenger wearing a beard sitting in the back grew restless and shouted out loud to him. The traveller thought he was trying to do him a favor so he said in a pleasant voice, "Not this bus?" "No!" "Oh." "Now get off the bus! Get off the bus!" The traveller carrying his oversized black baggage stepped off the bus hastily. "This man doesn't understand English and he doesn't even know where he is going. We don't have a whole day for this conversation!" He kept complaining without caring too much about how the traveller or the other passengers might feel. The bus driver gave a look at him, then started the bus.

   Not too long after the tension that just happened, another man got on the bus. He couldn't help but use a lot of obscene words on the phone. No one exactly knew what he was swearing at; however, he did catch people's attention while he said those four-letter words out loud in almost every sentence.

    Another male came on the bus the next stop. Wearing an orange-and-white-striped sweater, sitting quietly beside the window, he acted just like everybody else. A minute later, he started to talk. People sitting around him thought he was trying to make a conversation with them. However, within less than a second, they realised that he was simply talking to himself. Another guy sitting beside him could not help but start reading his book and tried to ignore him although obviously he was the target of this "talker!"

     While I was praying for the peace of this bus, a man wearing jeans hopped on the bus walked directly to the end of it. Suddenly a shout and a quarrel came from behind. All the passengers in the front turned their heads toward this gentleman. He was arguing with another guy sitting beside him fiercely. When the bus reached to the next stop, one of them stormed out of the bus in a rage.

    Pretending nothing had happened, I was trying to calm myself down. Then another passenger carrying a backpack managed to get his ride. I had a chance to take a close look at him while he was talking to the driver. His ragged blue geans covered with blood stains. All of a sudden, the film of CSI came to my mind. "Wait, I've got some money. I do," he fumbled about in his backpack for the coins. In the meantime, his nose coudln't stop bleeding! "What the hack is this?" When the bus driver agreed to let him get on the bus, the passenger sitting beside him decided to get off the bus right away and waited for another bus to come. I would have done the same thing if it had not been for the lady sitting beside me placidly.

    "This is the last stop. UCLA." "Oh. Thank you, Sir!" "You're welcome. This is the college. Enjoy your afternoon," the bus driver gave me his smile and warm-hearted blessing professionally. "I will. You have a good day too!" He deserved a sweet smile from me as well. With all the "excitment" I read only two lines of the whole book and I did not exactly pay attention to what I was reading on the bus. Could it be the pressure of the economy so that people felt tensed easily? What a ride!!!