Reflections

Chapter 1 : Endurance

My journey was far from over and my destination was a few kilometres away which was why I was bent on sitting, more like trying to sit actually. The seat was visibly made to accommodate two people but the fat lady next to me made it impossible for me to keep from sliding off from the seat.

It was quite difficult to keep still in a sitting motion, especially when the bus kept on turning to accommodate the sharp bends, knocking me over, determined on evicting my butt from the well worn out leather seat.

As if that wasn't enough, the sound emanating from the engine rose decibels higher than my earphones at maximum volume. All I could hear was the engine ringing in my ears and not the music.

I swiftly retracted my phone from my handbag and switched the music off , I had to save the battery for the entire day anyway.

I decided to doze off, but soon thought otherwise when the bus driver slammed on the brakes abruptly and we came to a sudden halt. I cringed and cursed inwardly knowing very well why we had stopped.

The stupid bus was stuck, I was going to be late again! I had made such an effort at sacrificing my sleep to satisfy the mood swings of my ever demanding boss.

More reason to get my own car, I thought as we were gently ushered out by the driver who seemed quite put out. All the passengers stood on the other side of the freeway. I glanced around skeptically as people began to make urgent calls to their employers, explaining reasons behind their delays. I tapped my bag, gently feeling for my phone at my right hand side and decided to not call him, let me tell him when I got there.

The bus driver began hailing like a maniac at other busses going in the direction of our destinations. I saw that some of them were full, but he hailed at them anyway. One empty bus stopped at last and passengers began to board the vehicle. I was one of the last to enter and I could see that the seats were already filled up and there was but one seat left.

Ugh.

No, no, no.

Not again.

For right there was the lady with the massive physique which I had sat with earlier on my previous bus ride. Dread involuntarily engulfed me as I silently advanced towards the pre-detested seat. Just as I was about to sit, the lady got up and gestured for me to sit, baffling me. I could already see what my face looked like at that stage.

"Sit sweetie, it's the least I could do," she said.

I scrunched up my face in confusion and registered what she had just said. So she had actually seen my discomfort, were my facial expressions that evident? I needed some practice at hiding them. So she actually, mmmh...

"No you should sit, I'm fine, really, sit."

I fought feebly for her to sit even though I knew I was dying to just sleep and replace my unwillingly sacrificed sleep.

She just smiled and shrugged, giving me the warmest smile. I couldn't help but smile back, besides, she was being unbelievably nice.

"Thanks ve-, "

My words were cut off suddenly as a sneeze was on the brink of escaping and I immediately draped a hand over my mouth.

"Please excuse me. So, uhm... thanks very much."

I awaited her reply but she just smiled again and said nothing.

She was so kind and genuine, it was impossible to ignore the heart-warming smile. It's extremely rare nowadays to expect a random act of kindness with no strings attached or expect something in return.

The engine gave a sudden splutter and jerked the bus into motion, causing me to bump my head on the railing . I winced as I automatically extended my left hand to soothe my poor head. I slept for most of the tiresome journey.

Luckily there was no traffic jam, so I wasn't scandalously late, I would be 15-30 minutes late, reasonably late at least.

*****************

Three hours later I was stood in the busy scullery of The Big Eat, scraping leftovers off from the plates and into the rubbish bin. I gently dipped and dunked the plates into the tepid water where they'd be attended to by Dora, the dishwasher.

Cloth in hand, I quickly exited the bustling scullery, ready to wipe off the remnants of a feast at table seventeen. A family of twelve had just celebrated a family member's birthday who was lucky enough to have reached a century. Lucky for her I guess, but not for me. I was going to be celebrating wiping off crumbs from the tables.

I stopped the train of thoughts immediately when I noticed that they had just tipped me. They had been extremely generous and had granted me with a tip of R200. I was beyond smiling now, I was doing a little happy dance in my head to match the dramatic change in mood, all the time starying at the crisp bank note which was embellished with the face of our former president, Nelson Mandela.

I'm definitely having pizza today, I thought. On a second note, I might just stop by for ice-cream too.

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First chapter done!
Feedback please please please
It's my first book so I need to know if it's headed in the right direction.
Ciao ✌