#33: Arriving in Memphis, Tennessee

Louisiana-Bound (2008) Part 33 of 40 - Arriving in Memphis, Tennessee Upon arriving in Memphis, Jack and I parted company. That was good as I needed my time to be with Melanie. There would be a long wait in Memphis. Melanie and I grabbed the chance to do some walking. Out the front door, on Union Street. A block or two down, we came to the Peabody Hotel. A fancy place. There were horse and buggy rides on the street. It was tempting but we couldn't leave our luggage or take a chance that we wouldn't be back in time to catch our bus. It turns out we had lots of time. We put our two large bags in line and killed two to three hours. It seems the time went quickly. The bus was scheduled to leave at 9:55 p.m. and the first call came at 9:30 a.m. An elderly couple, one with a cane and one with a walker were not in line. They were beside the line. The person in front of me had a fair amount of space but showed no signs of letting them in. I said hey, "Those two elderly ladies really need to get in line. Maybe you could tell them to get in front of you." And sure enough, that's what he did. I felt good, knowing they could now stop worrying. They were very thankful for his offer. I was wondering if he would mention me. Human nature is so interesting. Later, on the bus, I sat with Melanie. It would be fairly crowded and double seats only for a few, if any. Most of us would have to share a seat. We could do that. I would share a seat with Melanie. She understood. A quarter must have fallen out of my pocket and a young adult beside me picked it up and handed it back to me. "Thank you," I replied with a smile. Rats, more change slipped out of my pocket unto the not so clean bus floor. Again he scrounged all over to find the change, mostly pennies. He even had his flat hand on that unsanitary floor. He must have been a humble person. I told him, "If it happens again, just leave the change on the floor." Likely it would happen again. Trying to get comfortable in the seat, it is hard to keep change and stuff in your pockets. It did caution me though to put my wallet in a tight shirt pocket so I would not lose it. A man across from me had a circular watch or jewelry of some type on his wrist. I wondered to myself, "What is that?" Finally my curiosity got the best of me, so I looked at his face. When he noticed me doing that, I replied immediately, "What is it." He said, "This, oh, it is a spinner." My next words came quickly again, "Oh, what is it for, is it jewelry or something like that?." "Yeah, something like that, it spins." "I never saw anything like that before, so you just kind of spin it, that's interesting!" The conversation ended at that stage. He didn't do much spinning for a while. It was a type of jewelry which sparkled as it spun around. And now as I wrote this it occurs to me, that on a past bus trip I did see another spinner. I didn't know what it was then. Finally I knew! The night would prove to be interesting. Written by Harvey A. Bond

 

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