Last Stop

Oof. Glad to put down that bag. Ate too much, as usual. So nice to see Jeannie and kids, it’s been so long. Since last Christmas! They’ve grown so much.

“Gotta nickel? Anybody gotta nickel?”

Place is full. Dang! I wanna sit down, but not too close to nobody.

“Aw c’mon, gimme a nickel. I just need a nickel to get me a coke.”

I think I’ll get little Charlie a paint set for Christmas. He’s got an artistic streak, don’t he? I can find one in the Goodwill store cheap, and he’ll love it.

“C’mon, mister, gimme a break. You got a lousy nickel, don’tcha?”

Buncha losers, just like me. Don’t nobody ride no bus who ain’t no loser. Not a one any happier’n me. They might not know it, but I’ll be doin’ them all a favor.

Amy, I don’t know. Maybe pampers will be best. Help Jeannie out, too; I know money’s tight. Amy’s still too little to care about a present.

“Don’t nobody in this whole expletive deleted place got a crummy nickel they can let go of?”

Is my coat buttoned? I don’t want no one to see what I got under here.

I just wish Jeannie would stop letting that bum come around. He shows up, empties her fridg, and leaves, who knows for how long?

I know just where I’m going to set this off -- that big turn coming into Centerville. Set it off there, and the bus will go right off the mountainside.

‘He’s their father,’ she says, ‘I don’t want them not to have a father.’

It’ll be over BANG! Just like that. In heaven, they’ll throw a party to thank me.

“Just shut up, will ya, kid? Here’s a whole buck; buy yerself the whole machine. But shut up!”