Travelogue – Issue 9 | May 2010
Dragon Deluxe: Pre-Departure Tips
by Kayla Washko
This is great, you think—transportation and a show. You look around the bus to share this gleeful moment with one of your fellow passengers, but no one else seems as surprised or as excited as you are.
The driver grunts. You note that this seems to be his preferred method of communication.
The driver reaches into the pocket of his brown Dockers and removes a wad of cash. He counts: ten, twenty, thirty, thirty-five.
Then he counts the number of passengers, the number of seats. He smiles, satisfied.
5) Keep your Arms and Legs Inside the Vehicle at all Times: After the blond guy and his girlfriend board the bus, the driver piles their suitcases in the aisle next to you: one overstuffed blue duffel bag, one matching set of Coach luggage. You can no longer see out the window, no longer reach the door. So much for emergency exits, you think.
The driver climbs back into his seat and takes another swig of his espresso. Then he buckles his seat belt (the only functioning seat belt in the entire van), angles his body toward the backseat and says, Ready?
You remember the fraternity guy and wonder if he’s still inside the McDonald’s. You open your mouth to speak, but the Persian man beside you presses his index finger to his chapped lips.
You don’t say anything.
Neither does anybody else.
The driver grunts once more as he shifts gears. The mini-van lurches backward. You are finally on your way.
About the author
Kayla Washko has lived in the mountains her entire life: as a child growing up in west central Pennsylvania, as a student studying abroad in Cuzco, Peru, and now as a graduate student living in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Pittsburgh. She studies creative nonfiction at Chatham University. Her work has been published in the Road Less Traveled.
Next Travelogue: Monument
Previous Travelogue: Channeling Ferlinghetti’s ‘Autobiography’
