Buses, Youth and Oceans

The sun shines over the street as light clouds slowly roll along the sky.

Life has become a bore these days. Each morning I’m walking down this street. I turn the corner at the end of it. I go to the bus stop. I wait for the bus. I stare at the bus shelter advertising. I catch the bus. I arrive down the road from work. I walk up to work address. I enter the building lobby. I take myself up on the elevator to level 10. I Greet everyone. Sit down. Give up my existence to the slow ball and chain moments of the next 9-10 hours. The end.

I guess everyone has a bit of a dull adult life.

LOOK! How exciting! I just turned the corner and it’s time to wait for my bus. WOW!

:P

The bus arrives and he enters

“Morning!”

“Hi.” The Bus Driver says in a monotonous tone.

Walks up to the middle of the bus and he sits down.

Now I get to stare out the window for a whole 20 minutes. Maybe I’ll stare at my phone.

Yes! Instagram! A world of visual possibilities to enrich my day.

The bus stops again and a young girl gets on with red bloodshot eyes.

The man takes a deep breath.

That smell brings back a world of good memories from when I was a teenager.

Ahhhhhh, weed.

I remember when I was 15 it was the first time I began to get stoned with my friends.

We would go walking up to an overhanging rock that sat on a hill looking over the suburb below and the ocean in the distance. It was a good time where I didn’t quite know the life I would lead and being a teenager meant I was scared of the challenges, but hopeful for the possibilities.

One day my friend Samantha and I went up to the rock to smoke a bong. We had stolen another piece of hose from my parent’s backyard and I wondered if they ever realised the amount cut off to supply our happy drug times sitting on the rock.

On that particular day we walked up some stairs against a hill and into the bush to find ourselves sitting on the rock overlooking everything once again. It was another moment where we felt like we were above all and could see all. It was our adolescent moment of feeling like we controlled the space.

Suddenly, Samantha spilt the water in the bong as we rustled to sit down, and I looked at her with my eyes rolling into the back of my head. I knew the next challenge was to somehow find a location where we could secretly obtain water.

Somewhere in the bush wasn’t possible, and so we ventured back to the street leading up to this natural oasis. Samantha and I crept up to the street and whispered about what the hell we were going to do…

“Should we just get a bottle of water from the service station down the hill?” I said.

“Nah, we got this.” Samantha said.

She slowly walked towards and up a bit into a driveway and turned on their hose, ever so slightly so the people living nearby couldn’t hear us.

I wondered if someone saw us through their window.

She filled up the bong and gave it to me. I had to tilt it sideways so the water would stay below the hose stem on one side.

“You keep it, as now I don’t trust myself!” She told to me.

“ahhhhhh I don’t trust me either” I eeeeeked.

“OK, no weed for you!” She ordered.

“OK OK, I’ll hold it” I said.

We etched our way back through the bush where I feared of Samantha being in front of me, just in case the worst occurred where she’d flick a bush on me by accident.

I moved slowly through the foliage until I finally got to my little spot on the rock. I placed the bong on a flat surface of the large rock and safely sat next to it.

Phew!

We took the marijuana and cigarette in the mini bag of chop I had in my pocket.

I handed the bong to Samantha after she slowly sat down and she filled the cone attached to the hose inserted in the bottle.

Then she lit the happiness.

We heard the water guggling as she breathed through the bong bottle. Bubble bubble bubble. It reminded me of witchcraft.

20 minutes of smoking and taking turns with the bong passed.

We sat there and stared out over the suburb and the ocean below.

I blurted out laughter!

That was so funny.

Hold on what was funny?

I can’t even remember but I’m certain it was funny.

Oh yeah, ”Hey do you think anyone can hear us when we smoke and think there’s a witch in the bush?” I said.

“HAHAHAHAHA You’re a witch!” Samantha exclaimed.

“Do I look like a witch?” I feared.

Then we just looked out into the night time atmosphere, peering over the broad ocean and we thought about what we would be one day. Where we would be. I wonder if other people knew I was gay. I wonder what some chips would taste like right now. My mouth is dry. So gluggy and full of thick saliva. The ocean sound is cool at night.

Samantha started to tell me a story about how she always wanted to be a Pilot. Being a Pilot would be cool because then you could fly from this big rock and over the suburb and then the ocean and you’d get totally lost in the big world and never return to face anything and that would be a cool way to see the world because then you would be able to fly and no one would stop you or judge you and that would be cool I think.

“Are my eyes red?” I said to Samantha.

She laughed

“Yeah, bladder eyes” She said.

“Do you have any eye drops?” I asked

“No.”

“Fuck”

When I thought again about being a Pilot, I felt that could be my career. Stretching out in a plane over the ocean without any care. All I would need to do is pass Pilot school and I think that’d be easier than becoming a Doctor or a Lawyer.

The sky was so big and…

“Fuck!” said Samantha.

“What?” I asked.

“The bong spilt on me!”

I laughed as though I had never laughed before in my life. My mouth was broad, and I couldn’t stop. Ahhhhh!!!!!!! I almost fell into the bush.

Then suddenly we saw someone’s shadow in the bush and we quickly lifted ourselves to bolt for our lives like we’d never ran before. We ran down the hill by the stairs and went to safety…

I opened my eyes and I was about to arrive to my bus stop near work. That girl did a good thing for me this morning, though I think she should be a bit worried about being an obvious stoner at 8am on the bus.

Anyway, I hope she’ll be alright. Her smell reminded me that new experiences only exist when I remain open to possibilities.

I hate my job. I’m going to quit today. I’m going to be a Pilot!

I’m ready for a new adventure in my life to rediscover what will happen if I follow my dreams. That ocean will never be a limit to my endless possibilities across the sky!