Bus Writer

san antonio, tx "dad! wake up! it's 25after7! if we hurry, we'll make the bus at 10till...!" oh yeah...we were going to catch the sunday morning bus at 5:50am, but last night's movie and dinner only ended four and a half hours before that...not a creature was stirring then, not even a dad... "ok!! let's go!" i threw the covers back on this cloudy and misty san antonio sunday morning...threw on my sunday best hiking clothes, grabbed my sunday best back-pack and grabbed my sacred (yes, if you're a guy, you'll know) baseball cap and he grabbed his, and we blew out the door!...the sky is dark, foreboding, going to rain, feel it as close as the air we breathe...humid, muggy, warm and chilly on this urban adventure...gonnna hike the town, the river walk and push north for 7miles through neighborhoods, plain and simple, and beautiful...we start to run to catch the bus...oh no! forgot my cell phone! tore back to the house, grabbed it and ran harder, the half mile to the stop...this is fun, crazy! we are laughing...will we make it? who takes an intentional urban hike and starts off with a half hour bus ride at 7:50am on a sunday morning to city center? "this is crazy, dad!" he's laughing...out of breath, me, not him...we make the bus... then, it happens...without expecting or knowing, it just happens...it's quiet, very quite on the bus...the droan of the diesel engine, almost hypnotic, as we sit in silence, breathing hard, yet calm, satisfied...just a few gather together for this ride...i had barely thought who might be riding with us, or we with them, on this sunday morning...the lady in front of me, two rows down, sleeping, head bobbing hard, knit cap not budging..."she looks wasted", i self-righteously judge... then, a big man, dressed in a casual black suit, tie-less, hair, shiny and slick, gets on, quietly, exuding some sort of peaceful presence (no, really!)... we stop again... who is this, i wonder? a small, "gotta be at least 72 year old woman", i think, wearing a kinda bad reddish wig, carrying a huge black purse, pulls out a book as she sits..."cool", i think, she uses time like this to read..."good choice", i bless her, 'cause i would do that, too! every day, if i could...h-h-m-m-m-m...but, what is the book? i am nosy on this ride, i know, just a nebraska boy in the big, very big city and, maybe goofly, intrigued by this ride...i strain to spy on her book...no, not her! is this true? i smile, it l-o-o-k-s l-i-k-e, ian fleming...you know! james bond! is this true?! i hope so! you go girl! where DOES she go in her amazing mind, at her amazing age with this amazing adventure? i wanna go, too! ...and then, a mommy and her 8ish, impish, little girl gets on...the little one pops around trying to find her best seat for today's ride, the "just right seat", ignoring her mommy's mild directions to sit with her...finally, she does and they settle in...all pretty in pink, her ribbons and dress, and she writes in her tablet and sings loud mexican pinata songs, doing all the gestures and movements, eyes dancing, mommy gently trying to shush her, and, always failing, thank god!...dance, little girl, dance! keep those laughing eyes dancing forever! we're there! we jump off the bus..."we have to hike to the very beginning of the river walk, where it starts on the south, by the gunther house, we will start there", he says, so, no walking/hiking will officially count til then...ok, add an unofficial mile...we walk past intriguing old buildings, he likes the architecture and wonders what is inside..."did you know, a bowling alley is in there, on the second floor?" wow, a nothing-looking building holding a secret bowling alley...we rush past a bus stop... i see a very elderly couple waiting for a bus...we have to walk around them a bit, he, bent over, in a wheel chair, she, sitting on the bench, wearing a bright bandanna around her head...our eyes meet...i want to warmly say "good morning", and do, and walk briskly by...each returns the greeting...and then, fifty feet past, she calls out to me, a blessing..."god bless you!", her voice joyously smiles in hispanic lilt...i turn, smile, clasp my hands in a prayer grasp, walk back-wards for a few steps, and bow slightly, "and, to you..." i say... blessings this every-day...