The bus leaving Pittsburgh was not full. For this I was happy. I had my own two seats about halfway back on the bus at row 11. I was going home to Florida for the holidays and it was going to be a long trip, so it was nice that at least the first leg of it wouldn't be crowded.
While the bus had seats for 80 people and only a little over half of those seats were full, toward the back of the buss it looked packed. When I had gotten on I saw all the frat guys sitting back there and wisely decided to stop at row 11. I had a book I wanted to read on the trip, and I recognized a few of the guys from college and thought it best to avoid them. I'm not a nerd or geek that I would get picked on by them, in fact, my intramurals team just beat some of those guys in basketball, but I knew they would be loud and I wanted my peace.
There were very few girls on the bus. I had an older sister and when I saw my parents pay for her college, I got hopeful, but when they made me take out loans for mine I complained. My father told me that daughters are different than sons and when I have a daughter I will understand. That being the case, I had to pay to get me home and airline fare was too much. Likely, all the girls at my college had their parents pay to get them home.
I was proven wrong when I saw Suzy Mackly, get on the bus only minutes before we were scheduled to leave the station. I saw the fear in her face as she eyed up the back of the bus also and took an empty two seats a couple rows in front of me. I knew her from one of our humanities classes. Word was she was from a pretty poor family and was at school on a music scholarship. She wore cheap clothes and spent almost all of her spare time in the arts building, so I didn't think she had many friends. I'd be surprised if she even knew my name, but she was cute so I remembered hers.
The rest of the bus traffic was made up of older women (probably grandmas going to visit their family for Christmas) and a few guys dressed in military garb getting time off to go home.
The first few hours of the trip were uneventful. I read my book, turning my earphones up to muffle the obnoxious guys in the back. I looked back there a couple times after some particularly loud laughter and thought I saw a few of them with beer bottles. That was clearly against Greyhound rules, but I thought at least it meant they would sleep well. This was a 26 hour ride for me, and my first transfer wasn't until Washington D.C, which would be in the middle of the night, and I hoped the guys would at least let us get some sleep.
I quickly realized that our bus driver was a smoker. You aren't allowed to smoke on the bus, obviously, so we ended up stopping every two hours for a 20 minute break. I thought it was rather excessive, but complaining about it wasn't going to change things, so I took the opportunity to stretch my legs and get something to eat.
The frat guys all got off too and smoked with the driver. They were joking crudely with him as I walked by, obviously trying to get on his good side so that if he caught them with their beer, he wouldn't kick them off. We stopped twice in the first four hours. Both times I got a cheap burger off a 99 cent value menu from a fast food place. When I got on the second time, I noticed that Suzy hadn't gotten off either time.
I also saw the same fear in her eyes as when she had gotten on the bus. At the time I thought it was because of the guys in the back, but they had quieted down a bit since we had started off. I hesitated by her seats as she looked forlornly out of the window, wondering if I should offer to buy her a burger or something. It was only 4:00 in the afternoon, maybe she wasn't hungry.
When we stopped again at 6:00, I was beginning to get frustrated with the driver. We weren't even out of Pennsylvania yet. However, this was the dinner stop, and the elderly woman and military guys all got off here to eat. I wasn't hungry, and only a couple of the guys in the back got off. I watched over Suzy's seat wondering if she was going to eat at all.
Eventually her brunette head did rise above the seat, but only barely. She was about 5'4'', with hair passed her shoulders and a cute face. I could see her face because instead of making her way off the bus, she was standing in the middle of the isle facing back.
A few of the guys in the back saw her standing there looking at them and quieted down. She got a few cat calls and whistles, but they calmed down after a while, curious as to what she might be doing. I saw the fear in her eyes very plainly now. It was a shame too, because it ruined a perfect face. Her bulky winter coat hid her upper body, but tight jeans let you know she had a slim figure.
"Guys," she said, almost in a whisper. Those in the back that had still been making noise quieted down now to hear what she was going to say. "Guys," she started again, a little more confidence. "I really hate to ask this, and I feel awful about it, but I really need some help. My mom sent me a check to get home for Christmas, but she didn't know how much the bus fare would be. I only had enough money to buy a ticket to DC, and I need to get all the way to Tampa. I hate to beg, but in the spirit of Christmas, I was wondering if any of you guys would be willing to give me $5. It would really help out. We go to the same school so I could pay you back if you give me your name."
She had said her piece and was now biting her lip in concern at the response. I had bought my ticket and knew that she was going to need about $50 total. Who knows how much she had left over from what her mom gave her, but for ten of the guys in the back to come up with $5 each, shouldn't be hard.
The silence on the bus was deafening. She stood only a couple rows in front of me, and I found my self staring at her. She didn't notice, as her eyes were several rows back, focusing on the mass of guys behind me. I thought I had $12 in my wallet, which I would definitely give her if she needed it. I used plastic whenever I could, so I didn't carry much cash.
I didn't know how the guys in the back would react. They had been drinking, but she had given a rather sobering performance. The silence lasted for several moments until someone shouted: "I'll give you five bucks if you take off your shirt!" Raucous laughter ensued and the sentiment was echoed several more times.
I watched in disappointment as her face went flush and she spun around and dropped back to her seat. Now I really felt bad for her. It was Christmas, for crying out loud. Did these guys have no heart at all? I wondered if she shouldn't have asked some of the older women that had been sitting around her for money, but I guessed she felt more comfortable talking to people from school. Plus, she would be able to pay them all back after the break. But they had been jerks, and now she wouldn't get anything.
I was just about to get up and give her my $12 when I saw her get up from her chair again. She wasn't wearing her coat anymore. She had on a pink sweater that looked pretty old. It wasn't designed to be tight, but she had probably worn it since grade school, so it was a size too small and though she was thin, she had decent breasts.
"If I take off my shirt," she started, and I could tell from the tone of her voice that while she couldn't believe she was actually going to do this, she was very desperate. She swallowed hard for more courage. "If I take off my shirt, how many of you will give my $5?"
I pried my eyes off of her to gaze back as well over a dozen hands rocketed up. It was way more than she needed, and as I looked back to her, I saw a bit of relief on her face. For a few seconds flash, she would be able to get home for Christmas. I could tell she had tortured herself with ideas of having to spend Christmas in DC at some homeless shelter and this alternative, thought not appealing, was way better.
She reached down to the bag on her chair and pulled out a used envelope. "I'm going to pass this back and you can put the money in it and then pass it forward." I saw her eye the distance between herself and the guys in the back and for the first time noticed me. She took a few quick steps forward, handed the envelope to me, and I reached back over my head until it was quickly snatched away.
I watched her watch the envelope move to the back of the bus. The guys in the back talked amongst themselves until the chosen spokesman chimed up. "We need to see the goods before we pay."
"I'm gonna do it," she said, and I watched her cast a worried look through the windows of the bus toward the restaurant from which the rest of the passengers would shortly be returning.