Friday night in the country

Chapter Three

I STOPPED to look at my watch and held up my arm to catch the moonlight. Ten minutes to twelve. Was it too late to catch a bus?

My heart began to sink but I managed to prop it up with a forced bout of optimism. There must be a late bus?

It was Friday night. Surely even out here in the countryside a late bus travelled between the towns. What choice did I have?

As long as I could get to a town, or a village even, I was sure that I could get somewhere to stay and then in the morning I would come back for the car. I had to go on.

I puffed myself up with hope and staggered on. The bus stop would have a timetable. I crossed my fingers.

"Bloody typical!" I blurted looking at the broken glass. Only a bare steel plate remained where the timetable had been.

I raised my fist as if to punch the plate. I was so angry. The bus stop sign above rattled loudly as if mocking my anger.

"And bollocks to you too!" I shouted, feeling inept and futile.

Gritting my teeth I looked up and down the deserted road. Something huge moved opposite me causing me to jump. It was a large bush billowing about like the head of a tormented elephant.

The light of the moon changed and the leaves turned into a thousand bats trapped and flaying. The sign above clattered, grating upon my nerves. Beyond the heavily swaying bush, dark, thickly wooded ground steeply rose forming a prominence that ran off on either side for about a hundred yards before the road disappeared around the massive hump.

For a moment I felt that I was standing at the base of a sleeping giant. A giant that would at any moment awake. I shook myself to rid my mind of the morbid images. I looked at the sky.

No cloud, which meant, at least, no rain. The stars twinkled impassively as frost nipped at my nose and ears like a malicious imp. I stamped my feet and swung my arms in an effort to warm myself.

I tried running on the spot. Within minutes I was breathless. The cold air struck my throat and chest and I felt as if I was being force fed ice cubes. I doubled over coughing and gasping.

"Bloody hell!" I spluttered, "I might as well go back to the car. At least I'll be out of this poxy wind." I took another look at my watch. It was twelve fifteen. "I might as well face it, no bus is going to come along now. Not unless it's a ghost bus."

I started off for the car, treading the road carefully. The last thing I wanted to do now was fall and injure myself.

Upon reaching the bend, I took one last look back at the bus stop before it was out of sight. A bus was at the stop. The wind dropped and I could clearly hear the engine.

"Typical!"

The noise of the wind had probably prevented me from hearing the bus approach the stop. As if on cue the wind resumed its howl.

I took a few hesitant steps forward. I felt both confused and excited. What should I do? If I ran back it was sure to pull away before I reached the stop. Anyway I would probably slip over if I hurried.

'Oh, look at that lovely bus!' I thought, 'That lovely one-eyed Double Decker bus. A lovely warm bus.'

I could wave it down. Yes, the driver was sure to see me in this bright moonlight. He would stop, surely. He had to. Mind you, I could wait here, wave him down from here. He might not stop. The driver might be a stickler for the rules, the timetable, and refuse to pick me up. The bastard!'

"Come on! Are you coming or not!" I said.

The bus remained stationary; its engine idling.

Perhaps it was early? Ahead of schedule? I decided to take a chance and go back to the stop.