BUS STORY # 299 (Bridging The Generation Gap)

Old and new, © photo Ken Coton (Ashwater Press), , a photo by Ashwater on Flickr.

I take the aisle-facing seat behind the driver. A junior high kid takes the seat across from me.

I notice him because he’s more dressed up than I’m used to seeing from junior high kids. Nothing particularly fancy: a sports shirt, tucked into some khakis, sneakers. Clean sneakers. Hair’s cut neatly, too.

A few stops later, a trim young woman boards the bus.

She’s dressed for success: black blazer, at-the-knees gray sheath skirt, black tights, low heels.

I can't help but notice how nicely filled those tights are, and without being really aware of it, I’m set to track them as they walk past me.

But I’m distracted by the kid sitting across from me who seems to have made the very same appraisal, and the very same plan.

I lose his face as she walks between us. But on the other side, I see him following those legs up the aisle.

She’s a few rows past us when I see his eyebrows rise appreciatively. And then he swings his face back toward the front windshield.

I’m grinning. The kid’s just taken me back to when everything was still new. My own eyebrows were up most of the time.

Now I become aware of my thoughts, and I laugh out loud. The kid and the other riders sitting across from me look up. I shake my head in a “never mind” kind of gesture.

The kid’s probably pegged me for one of those crazy old men who ride around on the bus talking and laughing to themselves.  But hey, kid, turns out we’re not so different, you and I. 
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The photo at the top of this story is titled “Old and new,” © photo Ken Coton (Ashwater Press), and is published with permission. You can see Ken Coton’s photostream on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashwater