Henry had the A1A route this morning, driving northbound on the crowded four-lane with the ocean peeking out from the crowds of buildings to his right. Too bad city regulations made him run the air-conditioning; that sea breeze would feel real good right now. The sun was shining for the moment, but probably wouldn't be for long. August in Florida generally brought plenty of showers with it.
He pulled up in front of the bus stop across the street from a strip mall and opened the doors to let his passengers out. He nodded at a few of the regulars as they wished him a good day. Incoming passengers fumbled with change and dollar bills, greeted him, and went off to find their seats. At the end of the line, a red-headed woman in her early twenties stopped and stared at him. She pressed her lips together, the pink lipstick forming one thin line, and looked him up and down without saying a word before she put her money in the machine.
Henry closed the doors and she went down the aisle to take a seat in the rear. The sun was still shining and Henry was thinking about his sister's Fourth of July party and in particular that woman they had tried to fix him up with, Grace her name was. She was a librarian, and divorced with two kids. He couldn't remember whether they still lived with her or not. Maybe he should give her a call. Henry missed being with a woman, and it had taken a teen-aged girl to show him that. He hadn't heard from Mindy since that night a few weeks ago, and hoped things had worked out for her with that boy she had her eye on.
He slowed the bus to a stop again alongside a bus stop outside a beachfront hotel. As passengers exited the vehicle, the seat right behind him freed up. The red-haired woman leaped up from her place in the back and took the vacant spot before any new passengers could come in.
Henry glanced at her in the mirror, but she sat facing straight ahead and did not return his gaze. Her fingers clutched at her straw handbag, bright red nail polish ragged around the cuticles. Her shoulders were nice, if a little bony. Henry checked the traffic and pulled the bus out into the road again.
A few blocks later, he came to another stop. As his passengers crowded around the exit, the redhead leaned forward and said into his ear: "You don't look like that much to me." Then she was gone, out the door and running away from the bus stop while Henry stared after her with his mouth open.
He launched the bus back into traffic with her words still ringing in his ears. He was still trying to make sense of her statement hours later, when he finished his shift and arrived home to see her bony figure in his driveway, leaning on the hood of the old Ford sedan.
Despite the girl's earlier rudeness, Henry was compelled by his upbringing to be polite. His late mother had taught him there were just some ways you didn't speak to a woman.
"Good evening, Miss. What brings you to my house?"
The girl spat her chewing gum onto the cement driveway. "I came lookin' for you 'cause of what Mindy said. She's goin' around sayin' she got her virginity taken by a real expert." The girl eyed him up and down. "You don't look like that much to me."
Henry shrugged. He didn't much care what he looked like to the girl, but he couldn't stop his good manners from coming out. "You want some coffee?"