I was standing in the spotlight of the sun at the bus stop across
the street when I spotted her. She was carrying a little one perched
against her left side and as I glanced over, a man a few paces in front of her
turned around, presumably because she had just called out to him. I
watched as they spent seconds in a verbal exchange resulting in the transfer of
the little one, who enthusiastically assisted by leaning forward coupled with
outstretched arms, into the waiting hands of the man.
Then
the woman took the lead and began to run. And once he held the child cradled against
his body, the man began to run, too.
Thinking
perhaps she was trying to catch a bus, I looked ahead in the direction she was
moving in. But
there were no buses at the bus stop. Then I looked in the direction from whence
they came. A bus was en route.
Searching
the long stretch of sidewalk, I once again found the woman, now with
significant distance between her and the man and child. The adults were still
running.
Looking
back at the bus, I hoped the driver would notice them amongst the sea of people
traveling up and down the sidewalk.
When
the bus passed them, I began to wonder if it would stop. Sometimes, if no one
on the bus signals wanting to exit or there’s no one waiting to board at the
bus stop, the drivers keep on going.
When
the bus passed the stop, I quickly scanned what I could see of the sidewalk for
the woman, man and child. I didn’t see them. Looking once again towards the
direction of the bus, I now saw it had come to a stop a few feet past the bus
stop. Sometimes, the bus drivers do that, too.
Because the bus was now blocking a stretch of the sidewalk from my view and because the bus stood still for some time, I’d like to believe that the woman, man and child were able to get on, find seats, enjoy some air conditioning and get to their destination without the need for any additional running along the way.