Old Reliable

Finally...a completed short story! I got it under 1000 words (980). 

The bus closed the heavy doors and slowly released the breaks. It was an old bus; chipped paint, rusty engine, deflated tires. In fact, the bus driver had a life-long membership at Moe’s Autos, the local repair shop in town. On more than one occasion the mayor of Chipley had offered to invest in a new bus as long as he agreed to drive the elementary kids to school everyday, but he refused the offer. 

However, it was an unusually busy day in Chipley. It was Sunday, and everyone had the day off on Sunday, so the streets were filled with Chipleyans milling around, slouched over with their overflowing shopping bags; but that was normal. Usually the buses were busy on Sundays, but never were they so busy that they had to resort to “Old Reliable”. 

The pained faces of the Chipleyans were obvious as they saw “Old Reliable” pull up to their bus stop. Like a prissy cat touching snow, they tip-toed up the stairs, keeping their arms pulled close to their bodies. 

The last in line were two men, one woman: Preston Nichols from “Your Trash? Our Treasure!”, the local car dealership in Chipley, Marco Boiley from “Cha-Ching!”, Chipley’s bank, and Taylor Hunton, Chipley’s ultimate Twi-Hard. From those descriptions it would be fathomable that you may think these were celebrities in Chipley, but no. If there was one thing Chipley was known for, it was its unique citizens. And unique had never been a more perfect adjective. In Chipley, there were never two of the same; this included looks-wise as well as personality and expertise-wise. Therefore, Chipley had an expert in every category you could imagine, and that is why these characters have very specific bios.

The last on the bus were the three characters, and there was only one window seat. One window seat. One window seat. No, I didn’t just space out for a moment. There was only one window seat. Three people. One window seat. Picking up what I’m putting down? 

Each thinking they were obviously the most worthy of that one window seat, all three casually tried to sit down. And of course none were successful. 

“Um, excuse me good people, but I do believe the proper thing to do would be to leave the window seat to the gentleman,” Preston declared, giving a sly smile.

“No. I really need a seat. You can stand if you want to,”  Marco remarked nervously.

“Whatever,” Taylor replied distantly, gazing around the bus with the notion of being somewhere else.

“I really think you should let me have it. I have enough money to throw you out of this country,” Preston cooly said. “Plus, my wallet was stolen earlier today so I need a break.”

“My Twilight poster signed by Robert Pattenson was stolen today, too. I guess there’s a thief on the loose,” Taylor added.

“Hey man! You gonna sit down? We all got places to be, you know!” someone rudely barked from the front of the bus.

“Yeah man. Just let me have the seat,” Marco’s voice cracked, and his hand clutching his suitcase began to twitch nervously.

“No way am I gonna-”

“Sit down or I’m gonna call the cops!” the same man snapped. With that, Marco began laughing hysterically. His eyes flitted around every corner of the bus, his forehead broke in a terrible sweat, and his legs shook like Jello. But the whole time the suitcase remained pinned to his chest as if it were his own child. 

“What the heck is wrong with you?! You, do something!” Preston exclaimed, pointing to Taylor.

“He’s fine,” she said in the same monotone.

“Fine? FINE?! Obviously he’s not fine! That man is crazy!”

“He’s fine,” she repeated.

“Would somebody please-” and the bus took a drastic turn to the left, throwing all three people into the same window seat; Preston next to the window, Marco in the middle still laughing like a mad-man, and Taylor on the outside, staring at her chewed fingernails. 

Finally accepting their seats, the three were silent for awhile except for a few escaped giggles from Marco. In fact, they were almost as comfortable as comfortable can be on “Old Reliable” until they slowly felt the bus come to a stop.

“Honestly! What this time?!” Preston exclaimed.

“We’ve got a flat,” the bus driver said casually, considering replacing a tire was about as common as filling the bus with gas for him. 

“A-a-a- fl-fla-flat?” Marco stuttered as the rest of the bus groaned in frustration.

“Yeah, a flat. It happens all the time,” the bus driver said.

“Bu-bu-but there ca-can’t be a fl-flat.”

“Sure there can. No biggie.”

“No, you don’t understand-” but Marco was interrupted by the sound of sirens echoing in the distance. “Oh shoot!” Marco screamed, and bolted for the front of the bus. “Sir! I need to get off this bus! Now!” 

“I’m sorry sir, but nobody’s getting off-” 

“For goodness sake, man! Get me off!” But it was too late. The police were already at the doors of the bus, guns in their hands.

“Slowly put down the suitcase and come out with your hands where I can see them,” the police officer said sternly. While one handcuffed Marco, the other walked into the bus and unlatched the suitcase. 

“Hey! My wallet!” Preston replied.

“Hey. My poster,” Taylor said, oh so “enthusiastically”.

“A Twilight poster?” the officer chuckled. “You stole a Twilight poster?”

“Hey. Cut the guy some slack. Twilight can be very tempting,” Taylor defended.

“Whatever. Marco Boiley, you’re under arrest for theft.”

“I told you ‘Old Reliable’! I knew we’d help the town someday. Good thing I didn’t get rid of ya! That thief would’ve never been caught!” the bus driver boasted proudly. The officer rolled his eyes.

This was an interesting challenge. At times it was difficult to write something that was somewhat interesting to read while still relating to the topic. To tie everything together, I decided to connect all the characters to make the story have some point. Well, off to Math homework! 

Yours,

Megan ;)

(Beware of the Blondes, Cast of Characters, Soccer, and  How-To are all updated.)