Spoiler! :
My life is like a train stuck on its tracks, boring deep into the soulless pit of routine. My life is too predictable. Every day I catch the bus to work. I always take the same bus, the 3-32 to the downtown square. My routine never changes. The idea of changing my routine makes my head spin, and I feel a lack of the control that I should be able to have over my small fragile life. Without routine, I feel helpless.
I take the bus at the same time every day; I leave my apartment by 7:35am and catch the 7:42am bus. On it are the same bizarre people, the old woman with the puffy blue coat and round glasses who falls asleep and gurgles spit in her mouth, the other the lady with the scarf in her hair who sings opera songs on the bus and stares at my toes, and then there’s Dex. Dex always stays standing, and he always has a backpack; he isn’t too strange.
The bus stays the same as well; flat velvety seat cushions with colourful dots. When the bus stops in front of the coffee shop by my house, it moans and purrs and usually lets out a loud grunt of weariness. I usually pat the side of the bus as I step on and whisper “don’t worry old boy”. The bus ride is usually about half an hour, I always smile and say good morning to the people I recognise, and then I stand beside Dex. His stop is right before mine, but we talk till he has to get off.
On this particular day, it was sunny, yet the frost still hung to the air and the melting snow sloshed under my booted feet. I grabbed a coffee from the little store beside the bus stop and warmed my hands on the tender cup. The bus came on time as always. It didn’t matter what weather conditions there were, it always came at 7:42am. Today the bus let out a heavy bellow of exhaust; I patted it kindly as always.
I followed along with my normal routine, saying good morning to the bus driver, the old lady with the round glasses and the middle aged lady with the scarf. I looked at the window where Dex usually stood and noticed a lack of his presence. My routine immediately went off course; what was I going to do now? I decided to sit down next the old lady; she smiled kindly and gazed out the window crawling back into her skin and forgetting about the world outside and remembering her world of the unknown.
The bus stopped with a halt, and I decided to get off; I jumped off and thanked the bus driver. I didn’t have to be at the theater until 11am, but I would always go to work early to help set up for our theater practices. I finished my coffee and I walked around the block; this was still my neighbourhood so I knew where I was. This was nice. This was different. Never had I thought to do this, and why? Because I was stuck in my routine.
Never had I thought about it that way, I was stuck in my routine, not clearly controlling it. It was controlling me; dragging me to its depths and pulling me under into its domicile, making me frightened and worried of what would happen if I tried to pull away. Yet, what my routine didn’t take into consideration was the fact of other people’s actions. Dex was not on the bus today; because my routine never thought someone else may not be on the bus, someone that was important to my everyday doings, my routine lost the battle of wits.
So here I sit at the coffee shop by my apartment, a warm cup of chai tea in my hands and a half eaten cranberry scone on the table. Jazz music playing in the background relaxing my senses and a handsome young man staring at me fondly, I smile at him. Thank god I broke free from the chains and shackles of routine. Thank god for Dex, because without his lack of presence this morning, the handsome young man would not be sitting down next to me right now.
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