Next Stop...Pain.

Deacon plants himself in his favorite seat, takes a deep breath, exhales, and smiles. He's at peace now, resting comfortable amongst his beloved friends he's known; but never met, on a steel bench right behind old Bus Stop 88, outbound. It's Wednesday, 8:35pm, a sad day, and a loveless time. People at this time take the bus because they have to, not out of some Eco conscious choice, they have no choice, as for Deacon... he's with family. Sure, they have different nationalities, skin colors, sexes, sexual preferences; but yet they all wear the same face, a sad, morose mask of woe, and that is the tie that binds. There's "Larry" the 40 something year old accountant, who's loneliness and depression has rendered him with two DUI's, and an on again off again alcohol addiction, if the bus is more than two minutes late "Larry" will enter O'Shea's across the street and Deacon won't see "Larry" until next week. Another favorite of Deacon's is "Julian" the awkward homosexual. A gay man cursed with no fashion sense, clever retort, and the body of a 50 year old truck driver. He has no fag hags, no boyfriends, no sense of being, just drifts from day job to mom's house, occasionally taking pleasure in pornography. Then there's "Barbara" the mother of the group, one of the saddest; but only Deacon and she know it. Talks to anyone that will listen, says things like "hump day" and "T.G.I.F" laughs at the end of every sentence. However if you bother to listen to "Barbara" drone on about her son the surgeon who's so successful but lives far away, you'll notice her voice change, and she clutches onto something in her purse... it's your cell phone, isn't it "Barbara"? Your waiting for Mathew to call, aren't you Barbara? He's not going to, is he? It's evident they haven't spoken in years. The Mathew story never changes, Mathew moved away, Mathew's very busy... Poor Barbara, old and alone... waiting for her Mathew to call. Every bus stop has a thousand stories, and a million tears, these are Deacons people, the cast offs, the unwanted, the sad, this is Deacons home. 8:43pm, the bus pulls up to the stop, the family lines up for pick up, one by one they file in paying their toll, sighing their sigh, another day down, and nothing to show. The doors close, the bus pulls away from the curb, Deacon does a final headcount, drops his head to his chest, exhales, and mutters to himself... "see you next week "Larry".