[continued from: Bus Stop Waiting] When I saw the bus down the street I had a momentary thrill that I was done with Enjeru. I didn't know what to think –I couldn't think. Her chatter seemed endless and didn't give me a quiet moment to think through what was happening. A bus ride would give me the perfect place process the fact that I had met the main character in a story I had attempted to write some time ago. There was a small but very vocal part of me that was utterly thrilled and wanted to have us a little sit down Q and A session but there was that smarter part of me that persevered. The last thing I needed in my life was Enjeru, plain and simple.
"Well," I said as I stood up and thrust my hand out at her. It seemed the decent thing to do. "Here's my bus. It was nice to meet you, Enjeru." I lied.
She stood too but didn't take my offered hand instead she stuffed her hands into the pockets of her long motocross shorts. "I'm not going anywhere except with you." Her smile seemed kind of manic. "I haven't been on a bus in… Hey, have I ever been on a bus?"
"But- No! You cant!" My panicked blurting stopped when I remembered something. I pointed back in the direction of the coffee shop. "You don't need a bus. You have your motorcycle."
Enjeru looked about to either side of her as if the bike would've been parked on the sidewalk right next to us. "Do I?"
"What –Where's your helmet?" Though she still had her courier bag slung over her shoulder there was no sign of her helmet.
She shrugged "I don't need a helmet if I don't have a bike." And then shuffled into my space corralling me toward the doors of the bus that had just folded open with a hiss.
"Wait!" I had grabbed the edges of the doorway in the same way a cat locks its limbs on the edges of a sink before you push it in for its bath. I argued over my shoulder with Enjeru who was gently nudging me to step up onto the bus. "Wait. What about Sullaco? You can't- That bike means everything to you. You wouldn't just abandon it!"
"Him. Not 'it'," She corrected me. "And no fucking shit I wouldn't abandon him. That's because you didn't bring him with me. You abandoned him, pendeja!" she hissed in my ear as she continued her ushering.
"What?! No. Nah-ah." I shrugged off her crowding and turned to face her. Accusatory jabs of my finger stabbed the air in front of her face. "Now you listen! I didn't do anything. You just showed up! You sat at my table. I never asked for you to come bother me!" With every punctuation that I made a corner of her mouth started to pull into a grin that was more and more dangerous.
"HEY! Leave your bullshit outside and get on or get the hell away from my bus." The bus driver barked. "You're letting all the good air out!"
I found myself in front of the meter going through my pockets as the bus started rolling. While I was silently fuming that on top of everything else I would of course have to lose my bus pass Enjeru reached past me and fed a couple of bills and coins into the machine. "Exact change." Her declaration was one of triumph and she flashed a gleeful smile. There wasn't a trace of the argument we were just having.
I muttered my thanks, resenting her cheerful "De nada!" in reply but when I heard her unmasked sound of disgust and, "Da fuck is this stench!? 'Good Air' my ass." I enjoyed moment of smugness. I had processed the soup of body order, fatigued Freon and baked rubber with the practiced ease that only Las Vegas public transit commuters could master.
Looking for a spot that wouldn't have Enjeru sitting next to me I moved into the belly of the bus. The front area, where the seats were arranged subway-style along the sides, I passed through quickly; too much room for her to squeeze in next to me. My mission was to find the first unoccupied seat next to someone in the rows section. A quick scan told me I had almost passed up the ideal place. Jerking back a step I bumped Enjeru backwards and slid past woman in a somber uniform to sit next to the window. I ignored Enjeru's spout of profanity and focused my attention outside my window.
Once Enjeru moved on I gave my neighbor the perfunctory smile-nod one gives strangers when briefly sharing close proximity. Ordinarily that exchange would've ended my interest in a stranger but I realized I was sitting next to someone in some type of 'official' position. She had returned my nod while she spoke terse phrases into a mic that curved around her ear and integrated seamlessly into sleek wraparound shades. Her uniform was far too tailored and smartly styled to be something as mundane as HP or Metro. It reminded me of the Marine dress uniform in its cut but it was featureless: subtle shifts of dark gray, no visible fasteners to speak of, and no markings or decorations of any type except for a logo patch on the shoulder. Most likely a private outfit but certainly a person in that uniform would at least have a company owned vehicle to get around in and not public transport.
As I was surreptitiously studying and speculating about the woman Enjeru came back up the aisle from the back and moved into the area reserved for wheelchairs. Of course it would just happen to be in front of our seats. She brought down the fold away seat and sat sideways and hunched forward enough to rest her elbows on her knees.
"I was going to sit next to you but someone's in my seat. S'awright though. This works." I was assaulting Enjeru with the most vicious glare I could muster until I realized that she wasn't even looking at me. "Watchu think? Better than that oven outside, huh? I think the only thing worse than walking around in this glorious heat has gotta be riding a bus. I mean, sure, it's cooler but dat smell doh… Oh hey! Nice goggles. Can I try them on? I'll let you wear mine."
"Oh god." I heard myself croak as I imagined that this agent of who-knows-what would probably get us kicked off the bus.
The other woman turned and stared as Enjeru yammered on. Enjeru then paused as she apparently did expect the woman to remove her shades and hand them over. The agent did slide them off, holding them long enough for the visor, ear blades and mic to fold and retract into themselves with delicate clicking. She now held a dense featureless card the size of a comb that she slid into a barely visible off-center seam in her sleeve. Her only answer to Enjeru was let out a sigh that was as deep as something I might have made but with somewhat less exasperation. It sounded like resignation in fact. She then turned to me and said something. I didn't hear her because I was stunned by the fact I was looking into the same face as Enjeru's.
The same but not at all alike. She wore the subtle make up of a professional while Ejeru wore none at all. The spark of mischief in Enjeru's eyes was missing, replaced by a guarded distance that didn't quite hide sadness. Not short spiky two-tone red hair but long dark hair that was pulled into a neat bun except for long bangs that framed the same olive, though untanned, face. It was Enjeru's twin.
"Enzeru." I knew her. I knew her uniform and what it meant. I understood the advanced communication tech, the function and form of her uniform --even the patch emblem on shoulder; a stylized DPC. I had designed it. She was an agent of the Dimensional Portal Control and, with the silent clicks of Legos locking into place, I was suddenly recalling everything like I had done earlier at the café. I knew what she had to go through to earn that suit and I knew what she would go through after. My mouth went dry and I felt ashamed. "I'm so sorry." I blurted.
Her careful smile told me she understood what I meant. She shook her head and tilted it in the direction of her sister. "No, I'm sorry about her."
My eyes watered even as I blurted out a clumsy laugh to which Enzeru chuckled.
Crucified by the horrific understanding of what these characters would endure I was shocked by that smile. In that expression Enzeru offered both forgiveness and commiseration. My heart ached at the grace she lent: a bit of humor that, if I chose to, would keep us from dreadful truths just a little while longer. She had given me an out. I wasn't sure how much latitude it gave me but at least, for the moment, I could look her in the eye.
We shared that moment of fragile laughter while Enjeru looked between us with a furrowed brow.
"What… What?"