Running for the Bus in a Rainstorm
You’re balancing the tote of groceries
in one hand while holding an open
umbrella, rushing for the bus, trying
not to slip on the water rushing down
this hilly sidewalk.
An eccentric, effusive man bows, mumbles
something in a language only he knows,
sweeps an invisible path for you before
dashing to tell the bus driver to wait,
there’s another
rained-upon passenger. You thank him
profusely, but your savior is already on
his way to the back of the bus to do his
impersonation of Little Richard, complete
with elaborate
piano thumping, body gyrations, music
on he can hear. You sigh, offer thanks to
the bus gods, grateful for your quixotic
helper’s effusive kindness, hopeful you
can carry it forward.
About the Author: Diana Rosen is an essayist, poet, and flash writer whose first full-length hybrid book, “High Stakes & Expectations” is available from thetinypublisher.com She lives and works in Los Angeles where her “backyard” is the 4,200+ acre Griffith Park, the largest urban green space in the U.S. To read more of her work, please visit authory.com/dianarosen.
Image Credit: Harris & Ewing, photographer “Bus Transportation Driver” (1937). Public domain image courtesy of The Library of Congress
As It Ought To Be 