mrs. johnson wrote:

Great times are ahead, and downtimes are below. Because nobody can really look up. Sam withstood the test of time with his broken glory. He walked every morning to the corner and waited for a bus that came once every two days.

Sam looked up into the sky and tried to see the stars. The sun obscured his vision, but he did not mind. The solar rays pierced his dulled retinas and he looked back down. A car drove by, honking in greeting but Sam didn?t recognize it. He waved anyway. Time passed, and his thoughts strayed to various things, but he never left his mind off the possibility of communicating in a slightly different way. He was trying as he hard as he could to talk off pattern. It was difficult and fruitless, but Sam had developed this as a goal for himself and he did not intend to quit.

Sam wasn't alone. He had something. He had enough. He waited for the bus that might not come, but he thought, if it does not come today, then it shall come tomorrow. This comforted him and he relaxed and sat down on the folding chair that he brought with him.

The sun faded into the clouds as Sam opened his book. His thoughts twirled away from the boredom of his world and he made the following discoveries: love often failed because it was felt unevenly and life for him was boring because it was predictable and held no mystery. Understanding these things did not help Sam alleviate their burdens, so he smiled lightly and continued to read. The book's words led him to remember his upbringing and the story he was told by one of his teachers. Her words were inexact in his mind, but they were about Jesus. The teacher described the messiah as a man, who might have had divine powers. Sam realized that he had been reading all this time and he absorbed none of the words on the page. Often, Sam wished he was dead, but not out of depression. He understood how his life would go on, and it did not interest him. He could do nothing about this, so he considered death, but the thought of losing his sentience scared him. He attributed this fear to a genetic survival, and moved on. In the distance, a large vehicle approached.

Sam closed his book and took off his headphones. He stood up, folded his chair and waited. The bus approached, its doors opened, and Sam approached it. When he was about to step onto the bus, he glanced at the driver. The normal driver, Gus, was gone and in his place was a toaster oven with arms and legs. It had no head. Sam got the distinct feeling that it was looking at him and he took a step back, uncomfortably. The doors closed and the bus drove off. Sam assumed that the normal bus would come tomorrow and walked back home. When he got there, he turned on the television for a few minutes, but there was nothing that interested him. He checked his e-mail, but found nothing but unwanted advertisements. He telephoned a few of his friends and went out. When he came home hours later, he remembered little of what happened.

Sam walked up to his room, and laid down to sleep. He dreamt of water parks and band aids and woke up early. (already dreamlike enough, blur that with his thoughts instead of specifying what's dreamt and what isn't. See me after class.) He waited for the bus again, and this time it arrived in ten minutes. After greeting Gus, he stepped on and sat next to Melinda. She was always in the same place, and he sat down beside her; both too timid and afraid to meet outside of the bus. Melinda might soon be moving to another city, she says, and Sam expresses his regret. They soon fall into silence. Sam suddenly realizes that his thoughts are not consistently in the present tense. He looks out the window and sees trees passing by. Melinda smiles at him, and Sam finds joy in his oddity. The driver announces to his passengers that he is about to make a stop and Sam says goodbye to Melinda.

He walks to the front of the bus and exchanged goodbyes with Gus. The bus stops and the door opens. Sam steps out and looks around. Coming down the street Sam hears crying, and he walks toward the source as it gets louder with each step. Sam suddenly realizes that he left his chair on the bus, but this does not bother him. The crying always seems to be in front of him. The street is empty of pedestrians and vehicles. The sun is high in the air, with its yellow smile beaming down upon all, but only Sam is there to receive it. The crying stops completely, and a few cars begin coming down the street.

Pedestrians emerge from various buildings and begin to populate the side walks. Sam looks up again and tries to see the stars.