This is a story about people and the effect they can have on another without even being aware of it.
The bus hissed to a stop in front of the Dixie
theater on Broadway and 12th. Maude McGee
shuffled into line. She smoothed the fur on her
coat, and retied the tattered scarf around her
bird-like neck.
” Maude,”
the bus driver greeted her with a big smile.
"How are you today? Are you keeping warm
enough?”
Maude shifted the tote bag to the other hand, and
then dug deep into her coat pocket for some
change. The bus driver waved Maude's hand away.
"Another day." she wispered
“Ahhh, buppidy-bup,” Her bottom lip
protruded, “You know me, I’m always warm.
Besides, who’s going to listen to me any hay?”
She grinned, revealing a missing black space
between her bottom teeth. She absently smoothed
the fur on her collar again and walked down the
aisle, choosing a spot next to a plump woman with
a tight perm.
“Your mind?” She asked politely as she eased her
own ample bottom onto the seat. She dropped the
tote bag onto the floor between her cold, tired,
aching feet.
“Ohhhh, what a day,” She blurted out, “Cold as a
brick out there.”
The woman squirmed beside her. Maude placed her
hand onto the woman’s broad shoulder then leaned
close to her ear.
“Beautiful day, ain’t it? -- If you don’t mind
your assets frozen.”
She let out a raspy laugh that ended in a
coughing spell. The woman stared at her without
even a hint of a smile.
"My name’s Maude and your name is?"
The woman did not answer.
“You’ve been out shopping?” Maude asked
sweetly. "Quite a day for it, huh? I can’t get
enough of it myself. If it wasn’t for these here
expensive shoes, my feet wouldn’t be able to keep
up with me.”
Maude patted the woman’s fleshy arm and smiled
warmly.
"The good Lord blessed me with a wonderful
husband, my sweet, Harry. Why, he bought me these
here shoes. He takes real good care of me, for
sure.”
The woman looked down at a pair of crusty
sneakers.
“I love the snow, don’t you?” Maude said as she
smiled agreeably at the man across the aisle.
“Please” the woman said” I just need to relax.”
“Oh, for gravy’s sake, I’m so sorry, dear. I
didn’t mean to bother you. That’s the last thing
I wanted to do. Here I am going on and on without
giving a thought to your problems.”
She immediately apologized.
"I didn’t mean to be rude; it’s just that I have
a simply awful headache.” The woman wined.
”Buppedy bup, now don’t give it another thought.
You hear? Goodness. We all get a little testy
once in a while. Sometimes you just get your
belly full.”
The woman searched her purse and retrieved a book
of poetry. She opened it and began to read.
“What you reading?” Maude inquired. ”Ahaa. Sexy
stuff, huh? Did you get to the juicy part yet?”
The only answer Maude got was the whoosh of the
doors opening to let another passenger out.
Maude caressed the fur on her coat for the
umpteenth time, with pride.
"A beauty isn’t it? My husband gave it to me."
The woman glanced over quickly.
“Nice” she said.
“He gets me anything I want.”
“I’m sure.” the woman mumbled as she turned the
page and herself towards the window.
Maude watched as the man sitting across the
aisle folded his paper then dropped it onto the
seat and walked to the front. The bus hissed to a
stop. The woman laid her head back against the
seat and closed her eyes.
“The next stop is where I get off.” Maude
announced.
Maude adjusted her scarf, and grabbed her tote.
"Nice meetin’ ya.” Maude offered. ”Hope we see
each other again.”
She leaned over to the seat across the aisle and
grabbed the discarded newspaper.
”No use wasting It.” she announced with a shrug
of her shoulders.
The woman gave a quick half smile and waved as
Maude made her way up the aisle. The bus driver
saw her coming and grinned.
“Maude, you have a great Christmas and keep
yourself warm."
Maude smiled, revealing the missing tooth like a
gift, and gave a nod.
"God bless you.”
Under the awning of the Dixie Theater, Maude
dug into her bag for the newspaper. She carefully
spread each page out onto the cement for a
mattress. Pulling her grimy blanket up to her
chin, she willed herself to be warm.
“Merry Christmas, Maude.” She said out loud to
herself.
within a few minutes she was asleep.
The woman approached the bus driver and grumbled,
"That woman Maude—something…, was driving me
crazy! Does she ride the bus often?”
The bus driver smiled.
“She rides every day.”
“Doesn’t she have anything else to do, for
goodness sake?” The woman asked as the bus came
to a stop at her street.
“She rides to keep warm.” The bus driver
offered. "She sleeps under the awning of the
boarded up movie theater a few stops back.”
The woman felt instantly ashamed of her raw
mood.
"Poor thing…..”
Maude woke. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. It
was Christmas day. She sat up abruptly. A package
wrapped in fancy paper fell to the newspaper
mattress. The attached tag read: To a new friend.
Maude opened it slowly, savoring the surprise
as long as she could. She giggled like a child.
As she ripped the paper, a pair of warm, furry
gloves appeared. They caressed her rough, aged
skin.
"What the Harry is this?” Maude wasconfused. "Who
would go to the bother to give me a gift?”
She pushed aside the rest of the paper, and there
in her hands was a somehow familiar book. As she
opened the cover, a note fluttered to the ground
and landed on the fresh snow. It read:
WE WILL MEET AGAIN
Some day in this fast paced
Hurry-up life
So full of worry
Work and strife
We will someday meet
In an unlikely place
I will raise my glance
And behold your face
I know not when
That time will arrive
When we find ourselves, at
The others side.
If on a walk or
Near a stream,
When the world is quiet,
And I’ve set down to dream
Perhaps, when
On a crowded beach
At ocean’s edge
To wet my feet
Or will it be
At some lively fair or
In a market to buy some ware
We two must meet again
I’m sure
To Talk about
What was before
All our past living
Of laughter and tears
Stories to share
Of the other’s missed years.
We shall be glad
We’ve met again
A long lost acquaintance--an
Old new friend
-- Author Unknown
Maude’s tears blended with her smile—she pulled
her husband’s picture from her fur coat pocket,
and grinned as she looked at him.
“I got myself a friend, Harry honey. She’s a
real nice lady.”
Suddenly, she didn’t feel quite so cold.
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