Hello My Awesome Fans,
If this is your first time here scroll down to the bottom for the beginning of The Center part 1.
Also, check out the pages section to your right and if you still have time click on the “Observations” link.
Post a comment if you feel like it.
Enjoy the read!!
Mercedes
The question comes from another male werewolf sitting to the left of the girl. She drops her shoulders about an inch and ponders how to answer this question.
“I’m not sure.”
The werewolf, intrigued by the girl’s answer asks, “Where’s Umknotshire?”
“I think it’s up north by the sea.” Responds the first werewolf.
“No, no you’re thinking of Umptinshire.” The first werewolf rebuts. “You know, that little coastal city famous for its brautwurst?” He brings his hand to his mouth in thought as if scanning his memory of geographic knowledge. “Hmmm… but I’ve never heard of Umknotshire.” He turns back to the girl. “Where is that?”
The girl, befuddled asks, “Where is what?”
“Umknotshire, where you’re from. Where is it located?’
“I’m sorry. I think you misunderstand. What I was trying to say is that I don’t know where I am from.”
“What?” He chuckles. “You got amnesia or something? Never heard of someone not knowing where they’re from unless they got amnesia or something. You got amnesia?’
“Or something?” Echoes a third male werewolf.
“Knock it off Robert.” Chimes in the eldest of the female werewolves. “The girl might be lost.” She turns to the girl. “My name is Ophelia. What’s your name dear?”
“I don’t have a name.”
All the werewolves and even the bus driver in a chorus respond “What?!” And a series of “Well how can that…” “Everybody’s got a….” She’s just pullin’ our…” “Well that’s just silly!”
But Ophelia, calmly, gets up and walks over to the girl. “Are you lost?” She sits next to the girl. “Cause if you are, well, dear, you’re just in the right place.”
“What do you mean?” Asks the girl.
…Werewolves sitting patiently along the right and left sides of the bus. She does a quick count and notices about five adult male werewolves and three females dressed in business suits and holding brief case’s and morning coffee consumed by the day’s newspaper. Towards the back a young werewolf, facing away from the girl, is heavily engrossed in a book which the girl can not decipher from that distance. The girl turns back to the bus driver who is still presumptuously eyeing her.
“When that light turn green I’m plannin’ to drive forward whether you on the bus or not.”
The girl looks back at the werewolves again. She lifts her right foot to the first step and grabs the right door handle but quickly stops.
In a shy almost scared whisper she asks, “Who are those peo….. uhh, wolv…. are they umm…you know?”
“Who?”
“Them.” She points to the werewolves hoping they do not see her.
“You wanna get to the center, little girl?”
“Yes.”
“Stop whisperin’! You still wanna get there?’
“Yes, I really do.”
“Then you best not be questionin’ other passengers that tryin’ to get there as well. Get on up now and we gonna catch this here next green light.”
With her head lowered she brings up her left foot and stands a moment. She looks up and attempts to understand the other passengers and notices that the young werewolf, sitting in the back, is staring right back at her with a smile. Strangely this eases her. She moves into the bus slowly.
“Hey!” The driver startles her. “Got to show your bus pass if you travelin’ on this here bus.”
“Sorry.” She lifts her pass with a slight smile and shows it to the driver.
“Go on, sit down, that light real close to bein’ green.”
She sits one seat away from the driver, still too scared to move back. She places her bus pass in her map book marking the page for future reference and stares out the front window. Looking at the intersection light she notices that there are seven different lights on the signal.
“Excuse me.” She asks the driver. “Why are there seven light signals?”
“One for every color.”
“Oh, what are the colors?” With this question she hears a laugh, almost a snicker from the werewolves. She looks back and the males are still reading the paper but the females are all now looking at her. They quickly look away and talk amongst themselves.
“Well you got your red, then orange, there’s a yellow, we waitn’ on that green light although sometimes it come up as pink, that next light is blue and further up the light there’s a real pretty violet.”
“Oh.” Responds the girl. She looks at the lights again, counting them. “But, that’s only six. What’s that 7th light?”
“That there 7th light’s a white light. Ain’t seen that light yet. Other driver’s say it a burn your eyes right out your sockets.”
“My cousin saw it once.” Comes a pleasant voice from behind. The girl turns quickly to see one of the male werewolves, still looking at his paper, speaking as if to the whole bus.
“Hasn’t quite been the same.”
The females again snicker to themselves.
“It’s true! Eugene…. He was a real hard-headed bloke, not much direction in his life. Always going after, what one might call; the more unattainable things in life. He saw that light and sort of lost it.”
“What happen to ‘em?’ The bus driver, now turned in his seat asks.
“Not really sure.” The werewolf responds. “Just know that he quit his job, did some traveling around the world and when he returned, well, he seemed to be strangely at ease with himself. Very strange behavior for Eugene.”
The girl gets up the courage to ask, “Do you still talk to him?”
“Well,” The werewolf lowers his paper about one-fourth the way down. “Bit hard to talk to him now. He’s a real pleasant type but the conversations, I guess, are a little too ‘over-my-head’ if you know what I mean.” He looks right at the girl with this last statement.
She keeps his stare as he flashes a quick smile and returns to his paper.
“Where you from?”
“Excuse me!” She yells to the bus driver stopped at the light. “Will this bus take me to the center?” She opens her map book to page 9 and points to the center. “Right here!”
The bus driver, in no real hurry with his empty bus says, “Sure, I’ll take you there. Come round the other side. To the door.”
“But does this bus go to the center?” She remains on the corner.
“Little girl, that light bout to turn green and I tellin’ you I take you to the center. You gettin’ on?”
The girl stares at her feet a moment and checks the intersection. There are no cars present and none of the signs have any words on them just arrows pointing this way and that. It’s early morning, the light just barely breaching the sky. She smiles at the potential sun.
“Ok.”
“Well, come round now, I ain’t got all day.”
The stop light is still green for the perpendicular traffic but she sees no cars.
“Where are all the cars?”
“What?”
“The cars? Where are all the cars?”
“Ain’t got no cars here. You either walk or take the bus. I suggest you take the bus cause it’d be a long walk to where you tryin to get to.”
“You been there before?”
“Come round now girl and get on this bus before I drive off and leave ya.”
She looks down and shyly responds, “I don’t have a bus pass.”
“Well now, ain’t you a silly one. Don’t nobody come through here without no bus pass. Check yo pocket little girl. It’s there. Just got to look, s’all.”
She raises her eyes to his.
“Go on! Probably in ya back pocket. That’s where I’d put mine.”
She reaches in her back pocket and pulls out a bus pass.
“See now, what I tell you? Ain’t no such thing as a little girl with no bus pass in this town. You gettin on or what? That light bout to turn green.”
She looks back down the intersection both ways. With a faint squint in her right eye from the sharp morning sun and a heavy sigh she looks up at the bus driver then down at her bus pass. She crosses into the intersection and comes around to the door. The driver opens the door and they share a smile.
“You all make some room back there for this here girl. She goin to the center.”
The girl, startled by the driver addressing an empty bus, curiously peaks in the door and can’t believe what she is seeing; a whole group of…
