What she held in her hands was all hers. She had gone through her share of pain and suffering to get that little favorite of hers. She had endured the looks the looks of disapproval on her, and the weight of knowing the thoughts of the people around when she got it by herself, alone. How dare she do such thing against everyone’s opinion?

 

But all that was behind her — past in time and far from her. She had run away, and had kept running since. She was still in that rush, with adrenaline keeping her legs going, having only one direction: away —  and towards the crossing roads.

 

She held her favorite tighter against her, and then stopped on the edge of the street. Her path had led her there, to a point of decision, a point of thinking. All she thought was that she hated decisions.

 

The street was streaming with traffic to her left, continued in front of her, and on into the tunnel to her right. She could stop there forever, or go along the sidewalk to her right towards the tunnel, or try to cross and move on. Choosing was up to her. She hated decisions.

 

Suddenly there were no cars in front of her. Crossing had to be her only choice, so she set foot down the curve, decided to get continue her rush. She was on the other side in no time.

 

But something felt wrong, missing. She was missing her favorite. She felt it slip through her hands while crossing, but couldn’t stop, didn’t notice because of her rush. The poor little pink thing lied there in the middle of the street, defenseless, with a light coming out of the tunnel straight at it.

 

She motioned to rescue it but refrained. She decided she didn’t want to see what would happen then and turned her face away after giving a last look to her favorite. All the trouble she had gone through, for it to end up smashed in a street. Poor thing. She couldn’t stop the bus even if she wanted.

 

She heard nothing. She peeked. The bus had stopped by itself, right in front of her favorite. She looked at her favorite, and at the bus, and its driver. Her eyes opened wide in amazement. The driver smiled at her, and told her with a gentle gesture to pick up her pack of favorite gum.

 

 

Guadalajara, Mexico.  July 2008.