Phytoremediation

Cry my name, remind my brain of my identity

Sunny looked at Basil's tired face, his eyes completely shut. He looked adorable.

I wish I was stronger. As strong as you, Basil.

Basil seemed to be falling asleep, this fact was confirmed by Basil slumping onto Sunny's shoulder.

This is a little cliché...

In spite of Sunny's qualms with the writer's originality, he was still blushing tomato red as Basil's soft hair brushed against his cheek.

Please let the bus ride never end.

The bus came to a stop, Kel's dad left the bus. They must be in faraway.

Sunny simultaneously wanted to slink down in his seat and stay in place to not disturb Basil. The bus began driving again, moving along the road Sunny used to live on, filling Sunny's head with memories.

The bus quickly left the stop, driving out of town and into a road surrounded by open fields. Rice plants were streaking by, blurring into a green.

Sunny looked down to Basil's head resting on his shoulder. He stared at him for a few moments, before the bus driver spoke suddenly, startling Sunny slightly.

"Hey, ain't you that kid from the TV?" He said thoughtfully.

"Ah... yeah..." Sunny spoke softly, trying to make sure Basil wouldn't wake up.

"Heh, good kids. You sure are gonna make China a great place." Sunny nodded. He let the bus driver keep rambling.

"Y'know, me and my brother once met Chairman Mao. He was a real nice guy. I saids to him, I said, Mao, you saved this damn country, and y'know what he said?" The bus driver glanced in the mirror at Sunny for his response.

"What did he say?"

"He saids, ah... he saids 'I'm not no hero.' Real modest like, y'know?" The bus driver laughed a bit while looking in the mirror at Sunny, "Then I saids to him, 'my brother here, he's gay, y'know? Those KMT guys killed his boyfriend, ya know. Ya really saved him."

Sunny felt surprised, people back then could be openly gay? Well... other than when the KMT were around...

The bus driver made a small snort of amusement, then continued his story, "Ya know, and what Mao said here, it was real funny, he saids, 'I see... wanna share a smoke with me?' and held up a cigar to me and my brother, his name, ah, Lieu." Basil stirred a bit as the bus driver laughed slightly loudly.

"So Mao... he was a very casual man..?" Sunny was making sure that the story wasn't being skewed by the story teller's language.

"Ah, yeah yeah, he was a real cool guy, y'know, not uptight at all. We had a real good laugh with him when we were there. Wish I got to see him again, but things ended up gettin' too busy for him in the government." The driver laughed a bit more, then continued, "My brother got to meet 'im one more time, though. Sent me a letter of sympathy when he died, too."

The bus driver had a bit more of a somber look in his eyes, visible even through the mirror.

"Is it okay to ask how... he died?" Sunny asked cautiously. He was curious, but he didn't want to be rude.

"Ah, it's alright, it's been decades since then. Ended up killin' himself. Miss the poor bastard. Never learned why. Just jumped off some bridge." The bus driver sniffed a bit, clearly his brother's death was still affecting him.

Sunny thought of his own past. The times he considered suicide. He was always too scared to ever try with the knife. When he woke up, for but a moment, he thought of how tall the hospital was. Thankfully, he never acted upon that thought.