Along Life’s Way

.

Mile Marker 359

.

Julie Buffaloe-Yoder

I take Greyhound

for a long ride on a

one hundred five

degree day.

.

Fifteen freaking

hours to go

.

with the fumes

and the breath

and the rhythm

of sweaty heads.

.

Trapped inside

the rectangle;

heat slamming

through glass.

.

Air condition

don’t work

worth a flip

.

in the back seat

next to the john.

.

Somebody’s kid

crapped a diaper

and somebody else

smells like cheap

grape wine and

three week old pee.

.

A buck tooth boy

snores and drools

down the seat

right next to me.

.

We slow down

to merge

.

and on the side of

an eight lane highway,

there’s a girl, maybe

fourteen-years-old.

.

Skinny, dark skin

in a blue tube top,

she walks next to a

no hitch hikers sign

on mile marker 359.

.

Beside the girl,

there’s a lady

maybe

three feet tall;

straw blonde hair

dirty pink dress

and no shoes.

.

Next to the lady

is a skinny old man.

He wears goggles

and an aviator cap

with ear flaps and

carries a backpack

bigger than he is.

.

The three of them

walk together

through fumes

next to hot asphalt

determined to get

somewhere.

.

I dig deep into my

broke-handle purse,

rub my fingers on

the rubber band that

holds my small roll

of sweaty dollar bills.

.

The bus whines

as we shift

into high gear.

.

A woman up front

begins to sing

Peace in the Valley

slow and deep,

.

and I fall asleep

with a seat

on a creaking

stinking bus.

.

.

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