Bus Riding IV

The bus stopped in front of the courthouse and a new passenger got on. I was sometimes a little nervous around these passengers. The courthouse was attached to the town jail and sometimes these passengers tended to be irregular, not part of the usual group at all. They also tended to be people with court business or just released from the jail. Not a crowd that I usually want to get close to, but this time it was someone who I knew. There were exceptions to every rule. It wasn’t the Jane’s usual stop but she was a part of the usual group.

“What were you doing at the court house?” Paul called to her, and she sat down in the seat right in front of us.

“I was asked to give testimony for the case with Mike’s murder. You know I was at Mike’s house right before he went out drinking with the neighbor. Meaning I was the last one to see him alive other then the neighbor and the murderer.”

“What do you mean; I thought the neighbor was the murderer and what were you doing at Mike’s house anyway?” I asked. I guess I like to get all the details, and I am good at catching onto things like the way things are phrased.

“I was having a shooting competition with him. Target practice, his daughter joined that night. Some times Annie also comes but I she wasn’t there that particular night. I haven’t seen her for a while.”

“We were just talking about that. So what about who killed Mike?” Paul asked.

“Well they still think the neighbor was an accomplice or something, or at least knows who did it, but he isn’t saying a word. Just keeps saying he did it, that he confesses to doing it, and that they should just lock him up. Which alone is a little suspicious, he’s in way to much of a hurry to have the case over with. Besides, there weren’t any fingerprints on the gun that was used to shoot Mike, and it doesn’t seem very likely that he wore gloves to shoot a man during a drunken fight. That would suggest premeditation which goes against his story. So here I am, getting dragged into this whole mess.”

“That is a piece of news, but should you be telling us all of this?” I asked. I doubted that the police would want the real murderer whoever it was put on guard that the police were after him. Usually they liked to keep things like that a secret.

“Probably not, but you guys won’t go spreading it around,” she said shrugging. “I trust you guys, I am a suspect in all of this, though they didn’t have anything to hold me on I am being watched, I guess I just feel like talking to someone about it.”

“You’re a suspect?” I asked, appalled.

“Of course I am, I had a gun that night, and I was with Mike. It is only natural that they should think that I might have something to do with this mess. I think they’ll probably go through all of Mike’s friends so look out you two,” Jane warned us.

“I think I’m safe,” I said shrugging, “I was away at a business meeting. That’s a good enough alibi I’m sure. There are witnesses that saw me five hundred miles from here.”

“I’m not so lucky, I live on my own, I work alone except when I pick up or drop off loads, I might have more trouble,” Paul said. There was concern in his voice but Jane cuffed him about his head.

“Don’t worry you idiot. If they give you a hard time just point out that you’ve never owned or shot a gun, unless you’ve been holding out on us.”

To be continued...

Bus Riding III

I gave a low whistle. This was big news. The son had been a real tragedy; I had gone to his funeral. Mike had loved the boy, even though they had often fought, and had been crushed after his death. It had never even entered my mind that he would ever have intentionally killed the kid. The boy hadn’t been Mike’s biological son, he had been adopted, but you never would have thought it to see the two walk through the woods together. The kid was growing up, and therefore sometimes the two butted heads, but never to the extent that they would have ever come to anything. Mike being drunk while out hunting with his son seemed a bit more likely but he was a sure shot, even drunk I couldn’t see Mike ever hitting something he hadn’t meant to. No, I believe with all of my heart that Mike was telling the truth about his gun accidentally discharging while he was carrying it. It had been an old gun, and not properly taken care of, it was fully likely.

“What’s going to happen to Mike’s neighbor?” I asked.

“Not sure yet,” Paul told me. “That’s what everyone wants to know. I mean they were drunk and it wasn’t on purpose but the man still killed Mike. I hear his lawyer wants to plead self defense, that Mike was endangering his life so his neighbor was within his rights to kill him. It could go either way I guess. No matter what though the man better get out of the area, unless he wants Mike’s daughter gunning for him.” I nodded. That family was the sort that would meet violence towards their family with violence and the daughter had loved her father very much. Mike had been good to his kids; say what you like about the man himself.

“So any news about the family, is the daughter on the war path?” I asked Paul.

“Well, right now they are still feeling the shock so I don’t think so. Besides, I think they’ll let the state do its thing first.”

“That family has such bad luck. First the son and now the father, just the daughter and mother left right?”

“Yeah, maybe the mother will keep her daughter from going vengeance crazy, it would be sad if the daughter did something regrettable.” Paul sounded doubtful and I knew why. Both the son and the daughter had inherited Mike’s quick temper and stubbornness, something that their mother didn’t have. If the daughter did decide to do something it was very doubtful that her mother could stop her even if she tried. Mike’s wife had always struck me as a very sad and put upon woman, who let everyone do what ever they wanted. With Mike gone I couldn’t help but wonder how she would handle their remaining child.

“So anything else big happen while I was gone? Floods, fires?” I asked. I was getting kind of annoyed by the way I had to ask for people to tell me these things. I had been riding the bus for years now, hadn’t I earned the right to know when something happened to one of the usual group, even though I was kind of an outsider. I have already acknowledged that I am not really one of them, I am over educated, overly successful; own a car, things like that. Well you know how it is, there’s a class difference that I can’t manage to past with them. Paul makes good money, I know this for a fact, but I don’t bother asking him where it goes. It isn’t into buying himself any form of transportation other then Baby, I do know that.

“Nothing else really happened. Isn’t that enough?” he asked. I had to admit he was right. That was enough excitement for any community and probably anything else that had happened had been drowned out by the noise about the murder.

To be continued...

Okay, due to injury writing on hold

I was dumb and smashed my little finger on my right hand, hard. Like blood blister hard. I thought maybe it would feel better today so I didn't post this with my last posting. However it still hurts to type so I am not going to be able to write for a little while anyway. Sorry.

Bus Riding II

“Don’t I know it,” I said, flinching. How could I possibly forget that? It wasn’t possible. People would gossip for days as soon as anything bad happened to anyone who rode the bus a lot. There was a sort of bus community. When my younger sister was hospitalized I had to tell every other person who stepped on the bus for three days that she was going to be fine. I only wished good news traveled as quickly. I hadn’t heard that Henry Johnson’s daughter had had a healthy baby boy until three weeks after it had happened. I never did congratulate him on his new grandson, because I decided that I would feel like a fool talking about it three weeks after the fact.

I work you know, some of the time. I am a writer, just like I am doing at the moment I guess. Only this is for my own enjoyment, just like the old days. That’s one of the reasons I can excuse to people that I ride the bus all night most nights. I tell them that I am taking the opportunity to study humanity. That’s not really it, I just like it, but it means I don’t get locked up as a crazy man. It feels good to take the time to write my own thing again, rather then what I tell the editor that I will write.

“What about Mike, I haven’t seen him around for a long time either.”

“Didn’t you hear?” Paul asked, “He’s dead.”

“No, I didn’t hear that. What happened? I saw him last week and he looked fine.”

“That’s right, you haven’t been around for a few days,” Paul said, leaning back in his seat. I had been out of state to a conference which I had agreed to speak at as an up and coming author. I was now wishing that I had canceled or something. I could have at least gone to the funeral; Mike wasn’t really a friend of mine. He was unpleasant, and drunk, most of the time. However I had known him these last four years and I had grown used to his ways as unpleasant as they were. We talked often; I knew all about him, had met his wife, his daughter, his son. They were all rude, and crude people, they lived in a shack over by the river, but familiarity had bred fondness as well as contempt.

“He was murdered,” Paul commented, as if it wasn’t a big shocker. “It was all over the news here for a few days. Happened right after you left.”

“Do they know who did it?” I asked. The first thing I thought of was his wife. She would be justified in some respects; he was a very overbearing man, who couldn’t stand to see her talk to anyone else. “That family really does have bad luck doesn’t it?” I sighed. “First the son and now the father.”

“Oh they know who did it, it was their neighbor, they used to be such good friends but after that hunting accident that killed the son, the neighbor never forgave Mike. He always insisted that Mike had been drinking and that’s why he accidentally shot his son, but there was never any proof of it. Mike always swore up and down that he had been sober and that he had never meant to kill the boy. It half killed him with that boy died. But the neighbor wouldn’t leave him alone about it, kept pestering him about it. Well right after you left apparently they were drinking together when the subject was brought up again. Mike shouting that he had never done anything wrong, that he had never meant to kill the boy, and that he had been stone cold sober. Words got more heated and soon they came to blows. Well Mike was the stronger man and the neighbor got tired to getting punched so he grabs his hunting rifle. The neighbor was drunk and accidentally pulled the trigger. Confessed immediately, he was really shaken. He said that even with his dying breath Mike told him that he had never meant to kill his boy.”

To be continued....

Bus Riding

I waved at Paul as he stepped onto the bus. I have taken to riding it every night, even though I don’t have anywhere to go. It’s a cheap diversion and I get to meet a lot of interesting people, especially now that it’s almost midnight.

“Hey Paul, how’s Baby?” I asked. An uninformed listener might think that I was talking about a small child or a lover. People who knew Paul however knew that Baby was a large blue semi he drove for the local lumber company. Paul doesn’t have a family so the semi has become his family, as can be told by the way that he has affectionately named it. Before I met Paul I had never realized that it was possible to spoil a truck, but I think it is. If there is such a thing I think Baby qualifies.

Like I said, I only ride the bus for fun, but I’m the only one. At first there was a whole group of us would who would meet and ride at night, just to see what sort of people we would meet. People are always more willing to talk while sitting on a bus because they are cramped together with you and you have to sit together. Total and utter strangers would never look at one another if they passed on the street, will strike up conversations. After a while the others grew bored with this form of entertainment, or moved, and only I remain, a hold over from a disbanded club. The others really lost interest when the old bus was scrapped and they got this new, official one. It just isn’t the same; even I have to admit that, the old run down bus had personality. This may seem sad, but I don’t actually mind. You see, I have made friends with the other regulars that ride the bus at night, though they all have reasons to ride, unlike me. They think I’m strange but they agree that so are they for the most part, and therefore they accept me.

I stopped recording these night expeditions after the club broke up, but mostly out of nostalgia, here I am, pen in hand once in more. I was always the secretary after all and even though there is no longer a club to write for, I find myself wanting to write for myself at least this once.

Paul sat down next to me, thus determining who I would probably be talking to, at least for a while. It is possible to talk with people sitting in other seats, but it is usually a little more difficult and you will quickly lose your voice from shouting over the bus’s engine. Besides I get a crick in my neck when I twist to talk to people behind me and I always sit right behind the driver. It isn’t even the same driver it was back in the day, which is depressing sometimes, sometimes I turn to talk to Bill only to remember that he no longer sit in the driver’s seat. I guess I really am set in my ways.

“Have you seen Annie the last couple of days?” I asked Paul. Annie is another woman who rides the bus sometimes. I’m not actually sure what her job, but I did know that she gets picked up in front of the firing range most of the time. Whether she works there or just goes there to fire a gun is outside of my knowledge and I have never actually asked.

“Not for a while, haven’t heard about her either though, which means that nothing bad has happened to her. You know how it is, bad things happen to someone and it’s all over the city.”

To be continued...

Pride IV

My relief was only very short lived. Almost as soon as I had slowed down I suddenly had an image of the woman brushing shoulders with another man while she walked and felt horribly jealousy. I wanted to catch up to her so I could be the one brushing her shoulder, of course I still also wanted to move slowly. This was getting really confusing, my body had become a battle of wills between my brothers and sisters, and I was starting to become nothing but a mass of desires. If Envy was now practicing on me then I was in big trouble, and about to lose my conscience completely. The only thing I had left to be totally overwhelmed would be if Gluttony joined in, though I couldn’t see how he could be of help to Lust. If he had sided with me then he would have been useful, distracting me with the restaurants that at the moment I barely noticed I was passing. It was a shame really, a waste of his talents.

I grew aware, in a vague way, that I now staggering through the streets as if I were drunk. Too many conflicting desires, and they were all pulling me in different directions. For all I knew I was drooling. I probably looked like a wandering lunatic and this thought almost focused my mind. I could feel both allies and enemies losing their grip on my on my thoughts, not completely but enough that I was able to stand totally still. I still felt myself pulled in a thousand different directions but I was able to, while not ignore them, at least resist them.

Fighting over my body, who did they think they were? I was not some toy, nor was I a human to be pushed around. I was Pride, the eldest, the strongest; it was time that they remembered that. I could feel myself grow stronger and stronger with these thoughts. Now the others were merely a small nagging in my head. How dare they make me look like a fool in public? How dare they make me sink to the level of a raving lunatic, a fool?

As a final good measure I cast my power on myself. Now I was Pride like I hadn’t been in a very long time. I was Pride full of pride. I felt glorious. Now that I was back to myself I imperiously mentally dragged all of my siblings before me. They had to obey, no one can order like I can. They were suddenly standing before me in the middle of the street. Even Lust still wrapped in her blanket. I glanced over at a couple kissing and gave a little mental twist of my powers. Now the woman pushed away from the man, gave him a haughty look, and said something. He stormed away in disgust. I could see Lust visibly flinch. It was as good as if I had hit her.

I didn’t bother to say anything to my siblings. I had declared my superiority once again, in a way much more effective then words. I had defeated all of them, even those who had been on my side. They wouldn’t forget soon. I didn’t go back to my apartment; it wasn’t good enough for me. I was thinking maybe a mansion this time.

Pride III

Greed appeared, running beside me easily. Most people thought that Greed was slow and sluggish, but he’s surprising athletic when he wants to be. Lust and I are more athletic then he is but I was running against my will at the moment and therefore running slower then usual.

“Pride, we don’t want to break the rules like Lust is, you have to give us your permission to use our powers on you. We’re going to at least try to lessen the damage. Wrath is all for pounding Lust until she takes off her hold on you but Envy is protecting her. It looks like it’s going to be war again. Wrath, Sloth and I are taking your side. After all, Lust is in the wrong. Gluttony has always gone along with anything Lust says, but no one is really worried about Gluttony.”

“Please, do whatever you can,” I said. My mind was clouded with images of the woman I had seen from the window. But I could still think clearly enough that I understood the urgency of this situation. It was only after Greed had already gone away that I realized in my confused mind that I had just officially sparked a new conflict between the Seven Sins.

Our past conflicts were burned into my mind as times of horrible violence and vice. Of course I don’t mean about the humans, who were drawn into our wars. They are just our pawns and not to be worried about. To torment them is our purpose and duty in life. I mean the harm that in the past we have inflicted on one another, and ourselves. No one comes out harmless in these skirmishes and eventually they had gotten out of hand completely. To think about it I think that my fight with Lust dated back as long as that last war we had had. I fear her, I’ve already mentioned that, but she fears me as well, and in our fear we had the tendency to strike against one another. I had done her a lot of harm in the past. Between the rest animosity and friendships were fluid and changing, but not between Lust and I, we always hated one another. Since the rules had been instated I had lowered my guard. I cursed to remember that I had honestly invited her into my home.

I was now able to see the woman ahead of me and I slowed down as much as my willpower would allow me to. I had to buy some time so that the others would have time to act. Sloth was working for me so I might have to wait a long time. Suddenly, just in time really, I was only about four feet from the woman, I felt the unimaginable urge that over powered everything else, to look under a vending machine for spare change. I thanked Greed under my breath and went to do just that. By the time that I had finished with every vending machine in the area, the woman was again out of sight. I breathed a sigh of relief. I of course instantly felt the urge to follow her again but I had at least put some distance between us.

I could only imagine what was happening in my apartment at that moment. Most of us won’t use physical violence on one another; we instantly resort to our powers when threatened. Wrath is an exception to that rule; I suspected I would find my stuff all destroyed when I got back. Well at least he would keep Lust somewhat distracted and with her entire mind not on me her power would weaken. If Greed and Gluttony were fighting with one another then my apartment would probably be empty of food when I got back, and anything of value. That left Envy and Sloth. Envy could make everyone turn against one another if he wanted to, but that was a normal state of affairs anyway so we usually aren’t affected by him. Sloth was too lazy to get involved probably. Even as I thought that I suddenly became very, very tired. I even smiled lazily. This was a surprise, Sloth really was fighting, and on my side. Now I was even farther away from the woman, and not about to move fast.

To be continued...