>Seen on a bus
>
She steps on to the bus, clutching her handbag tightly. Her thick black hair swings in a long plait. She pays the conductor and looks around hesitantly. Her skin is burnt brown, her hands roughened by work and her forehead adorned with a red pottu. Unconsciously her calloused hand strays to her swollen stomach as she gazes at the passengers with beseeching eyes.
The man by the window stares mutely at the sky. The women sitting in the middle immediately turn to one another and begin gossiping. The schoolgirl in front picks the dirt out of her nails. The seated commuters in one body resolutely turn a blind eye to the visibly chastened young mother.
Her erect figure visibly droops and her face loses its lustre, as she stands there, wavering and uncertain, feeling a bit foolish.
The conductor pushes his way forward and barks out asking for someone to give up his or her seat. A disgruntled teen gets up with ill grace, and she sits down with a visible sigh of relief.
As the bus lurches forward, her hand lingers over her protruding stomach and she catches sight of the notice just above her head. She smiles ironically, her eyes filled with contempt. It bears the words ‘Reserved for pregnant mothers’
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A life of Saturdays by Gutterflower is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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>hmmm… I’ve seen this happen beforein a crowded bus a pregnant woman struggles to squeeze in and no one is willing to offer a seat until the conductor makes them.But of course if it was a priest getting on to the bus everyone at the front gets down and lets him come in and gives him a seat…pisses me off…
February 21, 2008 at 10:42 am
>yeah…….happens….seen that a couple of times……..pretty bad.Anyway on a different note, your writing style is nice.
February 21, 2008 at 10:04 pm
>stfallen – Me too.. I get really bugged when people quickly avert their eyes and pretend they haven’t seen anything.Sasani – Thanks!
February 25, 2008 at 6:02 pm
>This happens everywhere. The number of times I had to give up my seat for an old person or a pregnant Mum while 'men and boys' sit around.The thing is they have the nerve to glare at me when I give up MY seat…!Pfft.
November 9, 2009 at 5:50 pm