tomeubanks.com

    She got on the bus. 'Bout time.  Her face echoed her foul mood.  She settled in an aisle seat in the back, next to an animated young man who looked eager for conversation. Great. 
    He jumped up, signaling her to take the window seat. “I'm getting off soon.”  
    She moved over. 

    He started speaking to her in hushed, unintelligible tones, as if sharing a secret. His day had clearly included alcoholic beverages.  
    “What's so terrible?” he asked.   

    “It's been a lousy day. I hate everyone.”  
    He pulled a rusty horseshoe from his backpack, handing it to her.  “Never know when things are gonna get better.”  
    “I wanted one of these.” She brightened.  
    “Shhh.”  Then, “Here, shhhh.”  A can of Bud Light.

    “Even better.” It went into her purse.
    “See?” He giggled conspiratorially.

     She smiled, amused.

     The bus stopped. He was gone.

            Marri has worked as a free-lance manuscript editor,  a college public relations writer and a corporate business writer.  As a writer in the Communications Departments of two major corporations, she wrote human interest features on employees with unusual jobs or strange hobbies for the companies' internal publications.  Marri lives in Phoenix, Arizona.