A girl walked in to the bus (Part 3)

His eyes were closed. His face had turned towards her. He looked like he was having a good sleep. She had only turned to take a glance. She knew she obviously couldn’t stare in to the face for long. What if he noticed it? What would he think?

The travelers on the left side of the bus, especially those occupying the window seats were looking out. She could also see some visuals of what was going on. The bus had stopped for about 5 minutes, practically no where. The commotions outside made her think it was a puncture.

She realized she had a disturbed sort of sleep after the tender coconut she had. Was it because of the tender coconut, she wondered and immediately dismissed it because she knew that tender coconut was good for the body & it always helped her.

She moved the curtains on her side of the window & looked out. It was pitch dark outside. Every few seconds a vehicle would pass by & it was then that she noticed that beyond the road there was a vast arid ground. She sighed & hoped that the puncture would get repaired early & they would get moving again. She then put her hands on the handle on the front seat & got into the same position she had described to this boy some time back. She put her head down on it & turned towards the window. But there was nothing much she could see. She could see a slight reflection of hers on it, but not very clearly. She then turned to the opposite side. He still continued to sleep in the same position. She looked at his face & kept looking for a moment longer. She liked his face. He had short hair and probably a day old beard. What she did seem to register was that he had nice long eye lashes. Now that was not normal in a boy she thought. She tried to think hard if she knew anyone who had similar kind of lashes. She couldn’t think of anyone.

Just about then, the boy turned & got into a straighter position. She relaxed in hers & closed her eyes a bit. With her eyes closed she could hear the lady from the back seat ask “what happened. Why have we stopped here?” The male sitting next to her replied very softly, “It’s a puncture”

She sat back on her seat & stretched her legs well below the seat in front. It relaxed her. Now slowly more people were waking up & some of them were starting to get off the bus. It was when a slightly heavy man was trying to get off that the boy woke up. The man had touched the boy’s shoulders on his way out.

The boy woke up & registered that the bus was not moving. A man in one of the front seats was standing up & combing his hair with his fingers. He then looked left & saw 3 to 4 men all looking down. One of them was smoking. He seemed to get the hint. He then checked the time & looked right. The girl was sleeping. After shuffling uncomfortably in his seat for some more time, he decided to get a first glance of what was happening. He stepped out.

The bus driver & conductor were preparing to change the tyre. The other passengers who had got off were all looking at them do the job. A few had a normal & sleepy look. While others seemed upset about the break. One guy was smiling & typing away on his mobile.

The girl got down from the bus & walked towards him. He noticed that & smiled at her. She smiled back. The air outside was cold, not very but just enough to want a nice jacket or a shawl around you. The girl had her hands folded. The boy had his in his pockets. Both were looking at the work happening in front of them. They were not exactly next to each other. They were some distance away.

He looked around. The bus was in a nowhere sort of place. There were a couple of trees along that road. None close by to where the bus had stopped. A little distance away he saw some light & a couple of cars parked outside. It seemed like a shack selling some tea. He saw a couple of them from the bus headed there & that kind of confirmed it. The girl seemed to have noticed it too.

“How long is it going to take”, somebody asked the conductor who was fetching another tool from the bag. “Atleast another 20 minutes” he said without looking up.

The boy began to walk & looked at the girl. “Want some tea”, he asked her.

“Tea?”

“Yeah. I think we’ll get there”, he said pointing at the shack further down.

“Umm. Not sure. Not at this hour. But I think I’ll come along. Is that fine”

“Sure”

They began to walk there. She still had her hands folded & he had them in the pockets.