She is well known on the bus\u2013actually on the entire route. Her whispers are audible but in no way distinguishable. Most think it a shame because she isn’t bad to look at, though one old man called her \u201csome big fat girl,\u201d early one morning. She bumped into the seat he was perched upon and it annoyed him. She didn\u2019t do it on purpose. He was a wiry old man, who had fought cancer twice and won, obviously but he had no patience with anyone from the overweight to obese\u2013 \u201cthey were killing themselves, and costing society a fortune,\u201d he said to the entire bus in his high pitched, sick-old-man voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She whispered his words and no one could tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her hips were wide and her arms thick, her skin smooth and her eyes clear\u2013Biblically clear, like the Song of Solomon poetry no one reads anymore. The passengers looked at the old man with disdain while she whispered in her seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She whispered into the window the entire route that day; after being dubbed the \u201csome big fat girl.\u201d The driver gave the old man dirty looks until he got off at the mall to walk his hour and a half for his health\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Old coot,” said the bus driver, but she wouldn\u2019t look up and give him the half smile he was used to. She continued to whisper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No one knew why she whispered or why she felt compelled to ride the bus all day long. She always had the right amount of money and a packed lunch and she rode the bus until evening, getting off here, boarding there and whispering despite the time or weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maureen always said good morning to her and sat down in the forest green bench seat just ahead of her.\u00a0 Maureen worked uptown and loved to talk on her phone. She called her mother on the ride to work and her sister on the ride home. She would discuss dinner plans and what she would do with lottery money if she won. Maureen never thought of whispering into her phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alex was too afraid to drive in the city, so he took the bus everywhere. He told the driver one day that he\u2019d someday rent a car and take a drive out into the country, maybe along the Wisconsin coast line, just to see what it was like and then he would sigh when the sky scrapers blocked the sun from the windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephanie always boarded the bus at 3:30. She had to make sure she had time to change into her work clothes before she got to work\u2013once she told the girl that whispers she had forgotten her underwear and had to go commando while waiting tables\u2013she couldn\u2019t walk straight for a week. The whispers that week hiccupped up and down when Stephanie took her seat for her ride into work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Davy scowled no matter what, so she whispered low so he wouldn\u2019t lose his features on the floor. Her whispers annoyed Davy. He was sure she was spying on him and teleporting his superhuman abilities to the enemy that would soon take over this wicked world. Then they would all be sorry that they hadn\u2019t taken care of Davy. Davy could have saved them\u2013buy why bother with such a clueless bunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The old man who called her \u2018some big fat girl\u2019 never rode the bus again. Never.
She whispered the day back into herself and took on the pain both felt and unfelt and when she disembarked the bus, the driver would watch her for as long as he possible but he could never tell where she ended up or the stories she might tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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