Boy on a bus

The boy sat; quietly, immobile
slowly drowning in an oversized blue jacket
his pant leg straining to reach the black shore
of his fake Adidas sneakers
but failed, exposing the white sock
that continued screaming for help
though all hope was lost

A girl got on the bus
and sat next to the boy
Her boyfriend, a
freckle-faced
sandy-haired
sandal-wearing
lip-ringed
punk of a boy
sat next to her
playing with her golden hair
all the while carrying on
an indistinct, incoherent
and utterly forgettable conversation
that teenagers are wont to do

The boy stared; quietly, immobile
at the golden slippers
next to his black Adidas
Without turning his head
his eyes sailed up her black pantyhose
past the knees
to where it disappeared
underneath the brown skirt
to a place of mystery and mythos
a place where men through the ages
slew dragons
rescued maidens
crossed oceans
murdered natives
a place known to the conquistadors of old as
el dorado

On and on he navigated
up the summer dress
in the winter’s warmth
of San Francisco
Dusts of gold on the dress
spurring our conquistador on
that mad quest to the mother lode
He climbed that final mountain
That stood between him and his treasure
and there he stood; quietly, immobile

The treasure he could never touch
with his bare hands
forever buried in the brown of her dress
with just enough lying above ground
taunting our poor hero

Long he stared; quietly, immobile
Until she and her boyfriend
broke up over another girl
and she swore that
all boys are jerks
Until she fell in love
with her professor in college
and married him without graduating
Until she divorced him
over some student
and she swore that
all men are boys and
all boys are jerks
Until she married another
and then another
Until luck or love or statistics
caught up with her
and she married the man
who knelt by her death bed
and drenched their fused hands
with angry tears and swore that
god is a jerk
Until the last passenger got off the bus
and the driver went back
to his Chinatown home
to a warm meal and hot sex
and no one noticed
the blue jacket