Today
I saw something
That I almost
Could not
Believe
I was sitting at the very back,
far right
of the free bus
in Kansas City.
When a young kid-
maybe even a teenager
Sat between me
And a
strapping young lady
In the
Far left,
His energy was weird to me,
Like he was on something,
a shortage of sleep,
He had a face tattoo-
he had a flat rim cap on
pinky eyes
He had his front left hand in his pocket for the whole ride,
a pocket knife?
and
I started wondering
if he was going to try
me or something-
I looked around for cameras,
to no avail.
I saw none.
That’s when I looked over and falling out of his sweatpants
Was a gun
A glock
I know that gun
His hand tucked it back in his sweatpants
As I looked
over
and into
his eyes, which saw me,
he did a sort of head nod,
As if he could’ve asked me
for anything
and I would’ve
had
to have given it to him
then,
Keep in mind
That I’m clutching my backpack,
my fanny pack with my sandwich on it,
and a faux gold and silver watch my dad gave me
showing on my hand.
I grab my cocoon of stuff,
arms cradled,
and
make my way
towards the front
–
then–
I proceeded
To get off the bus
But i had sat
a few seats up,
wherever vacant,
and now my back
was to him
I wondered
what he
thought
I was
thinking,
and I thought,
“This stop, should I get off here?”
But nah, i said,
too crowded,
no open businesses around,
next one,
And there it was
– my golden opportunity.
A busy bus station,
I got off,
waiting to see
if he gets off
too,
but seeing nothing,
i let the bus roll
past me.
There, I just wanted to ask someone what time the next bus would be coming
that goes
to the
city
I asked a gentleman,
short old man,
with moles coming out of his face
like wood worms
boring
out of a stained oak.
He was senior in age,
with almost glazed over eyes,
Cataracts.
Maybe glaucoma.
He proceeded to tell me.
“Bus comes any minute, any minute now.”
—
then–
he proceeded to tell me that
which I needed to hear
when he told me
what I needed to hear,
I thought,
Maybe THIS is why I got off the bus,
maybe God is directing my path
to make sure
I land
at the
right
spot
The elderly man said,
“My mom always told me to mind my own business,”
he said,
“I know that’s something a lot of you young kids don’t wanna learn,”
I flushed,
or atleast gingerly leaned onto my back heel,
“Usually, when you mind your own business, and you leave another person’s business alone, they mind theirs, and there’s no worries, no problem– sure, there’s an oddball here and there, every now and then– but the ONLY reason I speak to someone is if they SPEAK TO ME, because, you see, some people just don’t want to be bothered, you never know what another person’s got goin’ on in their life, and you don’t want to disturb anyone, you never know what they might do about it, but most of the time, if you mind your own business, you don’t got anybody else to worry about, and you can focus on doing what YOU wanna do,”
I leaned back from heel to heel,
as to say,
clearly, “tell me more, I’m sorry I disturbed you,”
“My momma always told me, and when she did, I didn’t think anything of it, at first, and then I realized, she was right, you want to mind your own business so that other people will also mind their own business.”
Gave me a lot to think about.
MARK SOTOMAYOR 