Two Brothers

A few days ago, I felt the need to travel on the bus for whatever reason. I can't remember exactly where I was going, but I do remember what happened while I was sitting at the bus stop.

I had gotten to the stop about a half an hour early because I mixed up the days, and the schedule wasn't what I thought it had been. It wasn't so bad, since it was a pretty beautiful day out. So, I sat in the bus shelter all by myself, which was nice. I hate it when you're in the bus shelter with someone else, and you feel like you have to share the space with them. You most certainly can't sit in the middle seat on the bench.

Anyway, I was sitting, just looking around, when I noticed that a lady was shoveling her driveway directly across the street from where I was sitting. She was holding her shovel at the very end of the handle and kind of pushing it back and forth across the width of her driveway. It wasn't really doing much, but she seemed content, so I wasn't complaining.

As she was just finishing her "shoveling", a very tall man with dark hair (we'll call him Dog Man) crossed the street towards the house beside her, walking a very small, fluffy white dog. It was kind of funny to see. Dog Man waved to Shoveling Woman, then went inside the house. A few minutes later, Shoveling Woman finished (sorta) and went inside. Not two minutes later, a taxi pulled up to Dog Man's house and another very tall man with dark hair (we'll call him Taxi Man) came out and knocked on the door. The garage opened, and Taxi Man went around to meet Dog Man in the garage. They stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before vigorously shaking hands, then kissing each other three times on the cheeks. Right, left, right.

Keep in mind that I'm watching all of this happen from across the street where I can't hear a word of what they're saying. I'm judging though, by the greeting and the dark hair, that the two men are from some country in Europe like Romania or something (I'm not up on my European greetings geographically). They seem to be brothers or cousins. Related somehow anyways. Maybe brothers-in-law.

Anyway, a few minutes after they had both gone inside, Dog Man came out and started shoveling his driveway, starting from the bottom. He was doing it so meticulously, I though that it would take him a century to finish it. Finally, after a few painful minutes of watching Dog Man shovel, Taxi Man came out with another shovel. Obviously, he noticed that it would take approximately a hundred years before he got to visit with his relative, so he decided to help speed things along. Taxi Man started from the top, and was doing not nearly as good a job as Dog Man, but was taking considerably less time to do it.

Dog Man noticed the shotty job that Taxi Man was doing, so he snuck up behind him and started shoveling what was left behind. I saw some hand gesturing and heard some mumbling that might have been instructions on how to properly shovel a driveway, but I'm not sure.

Anyways, after a few more minutes of shoveling, Dog Man said something to Taxi Man. Then I saw him go into the garage, put away his shovel, and leave poor Taxi Man to shovel the rest of the driveway. Thanks, bro.

I am a poor boy too...

One night, a few weeks ago, I was sitting on the bus. It was a dark and stormy night. Not really that stormy, but it was snowing. And I suppose it was dark. Anyway, I was looking around, and I noticed a boy, maybe a couple years younger than me, sitting across the aisle. He was the kind that you'd expect to be a tough guy with a problem with authority and parents. Smoking and buying his midget girlfriend a diamond necklace for their three-day anniversary. With the money he made from selling drugs. Anyway, enough with the generalizing and judging and stuff. I noticed that he looked positively miserable.

He was sitting, leaning against the padded...thing. You know, the one at the front that if people are suddenly lurched across the bus because of atrocious driving, they just sort of bounce off. He was so slouched over, he literally looked like he had, at some point in his life, broken his back. Mr. Hunchback seemed to be trying to get a hold of someone on his shiny cell phone. After about 25 tries, he gave up and slouched over even more, hiding his face.

I was so concerned about him, I seriously considered standing up, walking over, and sitting beside him to tell him that everything will be okay. I really wanted to just give him a hug. I kind of tried to get him to look at me, so I could at least give him a little friendly smile, but he appeared to wallowing so deep in misery that he just stared at the floor and nothing else. I felt terrible. I also felt terrible that it would be weird of me to start talking to him. He, and those sitting around would think that I was creepy. This really makes me sad! To think that a word or two of comfort to a person in obvious pain would be considered odd.

The boy eventually stood up and got off the bus. I watched him walk, slumped over, into the snowy darkness. I still kind of wish that I had said something to him. Poor kid. Maybe next time I see someone who is as miserable-looking as him, I will tell them that they aren't alone in their sadness.