The Tiger and the Moth

Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Bus Ride with Stops

"How long is the ride?" Emily asked. Ann looked in the mirror above her.

"Well it should take no more than two hours," Ann said. "I hate to break it to you, but because of the storm, many roads are closed."

"What about the 10?"

"Might be clear. I'll have to check the radio and weather. The 90 is shut down," Ann said. "Also, I've been picking up different people along the way and dropping them to where they need to go. We'll probably make some detours, but by the end of the day, you'll be where you need to be."

Emily and Delilah looked at each other. "Ok," Emily said. "At this point, it works for us."

"There's also the Causeway," Delilah said.

"What's that?" Emily asked.

"The freeway that goes over Lake Pontchartrain. It's completely surrounded by water for miles. But it's high because of all the rain this year," Ann said. Ann looked straight ahead.

"That's a possibility," Emily said. She looked through the window and saw the farms with the water sitting on the top of the fields. "Whatever gets us there."

***

They drove for less than an hour before getting stopped by a traffic guard. The guard was directing traffic away from downtown Biloxi and where the Crescent is and towards the fields and Highway 10. Ann followed the detours. Outside, there were cars lined up to take the country roads that would lead them to New Orleans. While waiting in traffic, Ann received a few taps on the bus doors. She let people in and soon, the bus was about halfway filled.

"These people look awful," Emily said. She watched them hustle onto the bus and immediately rub their hands warm. The rain had stopped and wind had started. The bus was getting fuller. Emily looked over at Delilah. Delilah was still reading a piece of folded up paper.

"What is that you're reading?" Emily asked.

"The news," Delilah said.

"There?" Emily asked.

"Yeah," Delilah said. She handed it to Emily. The print was so small, it was hard for her to read. Emily read it for a while. Delilah closed her eyes to sleep. The bus eventually came to a stop.

"Why are we stopped here?" Emily asked. She looked out to the cars in traffic. "Is this New Orleans?"

"Not yet," Delilah said. The bus crawled in the traffic. Emily and Delilah both closed their eyes and slept. The rain was coming down hard and the cement of the highway had atleast an inch of water covering it while they crawled down. A few people got off the bus on the highway. The bus took a different path. It began to be directed by more traffic cones out.

"Where are we going? Don't we need to be going that way?" Delilah said, pointing.

"There's nothing I can do about that," Ann said. They were on the highway for a while, then detours took them through different parts of the the country outside of New Orleans but they couldn't get in.

"The radio says it's flooded most of the routes to New Orleans. The couple that are open are almost impossible to get to at this point," Ann said. "Anyways, the bus is almost out of gas, and we need to stop for the night." Finally, she pulled up to a town called Eden Isle on a residential street.

"We have to stop here for then night. You both can stay at my place tonight if you need to?" Ann said. The bus doors opened and Delilah, Emily and a few other people got off the bus and out onto the street. They left down the sidewalk without saying anything. A light rain was coming down. Emily pulled out her umbrella.

They walked up the porch to the house Ann lived in. It was a split ranch style house with a long porch. One side of the porch had more worn out paint than the other side.

"Sit down here. I'll bring you something to drink," Ann said. They sat on the front porch. Outside, it was still raining lightly. Around the neighborhood, there were cars being packed. Annie brought out lemonade.

"Thank you," Delilah said.

"Thanks," Emily said. They drank the lemonade while looking out into the neighborhood. The neighborhood, unlike Biloxi was not in a panic. Things were slower here, and for the first time in a while, and only a couple times at the Crescent, did Emily feel like this. It was a nice feeling.

"What made you become a bus driver?" Delilah asked. Ann looked over at Delilah. Ann took a bobby pin out of Delilah's hair and pinned it to her shirt.

"Well my husband left me about ten years ago. One day, he left for the store and didn't come home," Ann said.

"I'm sorry," Emily said.

"Best day of my life. I had to work at something," Ann said. "I don't get to be home very much, but when I am, I try to make sure it's when my son will be there when he's back from school. I missed a lot of his high school, because of the driving, and trying to save for college. But I guess it's worth it now."

"What's he studying?" Delilah asked.

"Accounting," Ann said. "Well I'm off to bed. Lots of driving tomorrow." Ann went back inside. Emily reached over and picked up the box full of black sand. She ran her fingers through it.

"That kind of stuff is suppose to be bad luck," Delilah said.

"How'd you know that?" Emily said.

"You grow up with it. You learn it," Delilah said. Delilah began saying things under her breath.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked.

"Saying a prayer," Delilah said. Emily didn't interrupt her.

A bicycle rode by, dropping newspaper on the porch steps.

"Thanks," Delilah said sarcastically. Delilah scrambled to get it. She opened it up.

"Apparently animals at the Biloxi Zoo are out so they are roaming the streets in Biloxi and are dangerous. I wish I could of seen that," Delilah said.

"Sounds like Bob's cows also," Emily said.

"The article says people think there was an animals getting loose in similar weather like the one that happened many years ago. There were animals everywhere. Some people were thought to have gotten trampled or went missing," Delilah said. Emily felt a shiver up her back. She drank more lemonade and listened to Delilah read the entire paper front and back as alert as a dog.