Noiseless Babbling Inside a Bus at 12 in the Morning

By R.A.B.

Have you ever been stuck sitting at the back part of a half empty bus without any familiar soul to accompany you for an hour? Without the option of talking to anybody else but yourself? Without anybody near you to disturb the silence or the humming sound that the bus’ engine emits? Well I’ve been and I’m telling you it’s depressing.

I was sitting at the farthest right corner of the bus when this happened to me. I was slouching on the soft chair with my feet resting flatly on the ground, feeling like gelatin, wobbling like crazy because of the tiresome escapades of walking it has experienced all throughout that afternoon. My head was tilted towards the window, dizzy because of the tiresome day I just experienced. My eyes, red as blood because of the haziness it has been battling for over an hour now, were looking at the familiar places that I have been passing by ever since the beginning of my college life. I watched the steady stream of nightclubs go by here in Quezon Avenue. Their fair neon lights flashing for it was already late in the evening. I can see the incredible rows of luxury cars passing by me one after the other as the bus moved on. They were parked outside the bright nightclubs. I watched in disgust as I saw some of the owners of the cars go walk towards their vehicles with some chick wearing an extremely kinky outfit by their side. Some of the girls were laughing, some sulking and some just expressionless. Most of these girls have the word whore written all over them. I’m not disgusted with hookers though because most of them, if given a different opportunity in life, wouldn’t have chosen to become a shameless prostitute. But I guess there is no shame in front of poverty’s eyes. You must have work in order to survive and work is something that is very hard to find these days. I am disgusted with the men though. They have no shame. Well I guess shame is such an overrated word these days.

Hell! I didn’t imagine myself looking at dirty old men picking up hookers at night. This is one of the things that I hate with being alone with nothing to do; I start doing crapy things like these. Yeah, when I’m alone I think of things that are really ridiculous and weird-even for me.

Well thank god it’s almost 12:15 in the morning; there’s no more traffic to fight through so the highway’s as wide as the Pacific Ocean. Man! Most of you do realize that the traffic here in Metro Manila is the WORST in the whole wide world. I just don’t get it, why can’t the government just use alternative forms of transportations? I mean, we do have trains do we? We could just build a whole bunch of them that could support around 75% of the population in the Metropolis and that would be enough to solve the traffic problems here right? We could also build a whole bunch of some kind of helicopter transport right? They could shuttle people from one place to another in just the fraction of the time it takes a bus. These ideas of mine aren’t far fetched ya’ know, they are all technologically possible it’s just that the government won’t cough up the cash for such projects which are beneficial for the masses. They just think of projects that could also be beneficial for their pockets or their bank accounts.

What’s up with the money anyway? Why? So they could build houses that are the size of a crack house? To have more cars than the military armored corps? That’s shit you know! I don’t know why but what would I do with a house as huge as a palace, I can’t even clean my own one-roomed apartment by myself. I’d be helpless without maids or caretakers which I don’t like because I want to enjoy the comfort of my own house alone with either my family, my friends or just myself. And the cars? Why I can only drive one car. What would I need the other cars for? O god! Here I go again. This talking to myself stuff is really irritating; am I psycho or something? Well it’s those politicians’ fault. If only they could be damn straight and honest. Aren’t they afraid of God? Well I guess that is not possible. It’s really just hopeless because nobody’s afraid of God anymore.

Anyway, my helpless wondering was interrupted by the bus’ stopping to pick up a passenger. Normally I give no damn to new passengers boarding the bus but this one was an exception. She was a young woman, probably in her late teens; I don’t know, maybe 19 or 18? Well she, I must admit,was pretty. She had this fair white skin and small cute eyes but that was not why she caught my attention. She was carrying a baby in one of those bags which you hang from your back or front and then put the baby in them and just let them hang on your belly or back.

(to be continued)

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