Sometimes I wish that there were occupations, careers, for simple mechanics or physics. That I could be gravity for a living, or the cogs in a familiar grandfather clock. I want to come to work everyday and be the feeling you get when you can’t remember a person’s name who obviously remembers you. Or a tear gland.
“You sleep too much.” She’s right. I’ve been sleeping for two hundred miles.
“You gave me the window seat.”
“I have to pee a lot.”
“That’s not good.”
“Mmm.”
It smells like imitation leather and something that reminds me of my grandmother. I can’t place my finger on it. I say something like this to Alexa.
“It’s better than the last time I rode greyhound, one of the bus smelled like wet dog the entire time.”
“Funny.”
“What?”
“Wet dog… Greyhound…”
“Oh, yeah.” She’s reading something smart. She has been this entire time.
“Is that good?”
“It’s Hemingway.”
“Oh. Are you going to kill yourself?” She looks at me; i’m eating a peanut butter cracker.
“I’m guessing you ask because he did.”
“Who did?”
“Hemingway. He shot himself.”
“Did he, hm.”
She is still staring at me. There is a baby on the bus. It’s crying is giving me a headache.
“Do you think a baby could survive in the undercarriage of the bus? Like, assuming you wanted to put a baby in something, and then give it to a baggage handler. Maybe you could put it in a small terrarium. with like holes, and different objects and environmental factors to emulate it’s habitat. Like a rattle, um, you know. er, rat- eh. “
“You are saying it righ-“
“RATTLE SNAKE!”
She is looking at me again.
“You are fucking with me.”
“Yes, I am, I like you.”
She smiles at me.
For a couple more miles the baby won’t stop crying and I ask her if i can borrow her ipod and headphones.
“Do you have anything good on this thing?”
“That’s a stupid question.” I’m scrolling.
“Yeah. Oh… Oh yeah, oh you like good music. Holy fuck. Jesus, i want to fuck you right now.”
“that’s, that’s really inappropriate.” She is looking around but kind of smirking. “I don’t think that these people would appreciate that.”
“Who cares-OH FUCKING HELL… this is a good song.”
She is smiling again. Maybe she thinks I’m funny. This is probably going to be a bad trip.
4 months ago