"I spy you!" - 64

Sleeping in the A/c sleeper bus was a new experience to Vasupradha. She entered the bus and found that the bus had about 3 to 4 beds in two rows. One side double beds and on the other side one side single beds. Oh, there were both upper and lower berths.

Oh God! Which is my seat...? She thought as she entered inside. The booking was done by the office. To her horror she found that she was booked in the aisle side seat of a double bed!

Whose idea is that? She thought furiously and went to the driver to change the seating. But the driver asked her to go to the ticket booking office which was a little far away.

“Please come back fast! We are leaving almost immediately!” requested the driver. She walked fast towards the ticking office. The signals made her wait before she could cross the road. The booking clerk raised his hand showing helplessness.

“Sorry! No alternative” he said. Vasupradha asked him about her ‘bedmate’. The clerk told that he has no clue about the other passenger. He also suggested that once the person comes, she can change the ‘bed’ if the other person agrees.

So, they don’t even know whether the other person is a male or a female? But she had no time to think since frantic calls came saying that the bus is just waiting for Vasupradha to get in.

The bus moved and Vasupradha thankfully flopped on to the bed. Though her bed was on the aisle side, she decided to stay on the other bed since she had the support of the side of the bus was duplicating as ‘wall’ for her.

The bus sped on for some distance. Vasupradha’s eyes closed to drift into sleep though the mind was alert about her strange partner who did not show up even after 2 hours of travel. She suddenly woke up. She did not know what made her start like this. She could not sleep anymore.

She got out of her bed without knocking anyone and came to the door which separated the passengers from the driver. She opened it and came out. The driver was sitting at the steering wheel and driving the bus with full concentration.

She sat on the seat which was near the door and stared outside. The bus was surging forward putting back many trees. The big glass in front of her reminded her of a big movie screen. The fine dust particles were picked up by the high beams of the headlights of the bus.

The picture looked fascinating to Vasupradha and she was totally lost in it when it happened.

The driver had to stop the bus suddenly when a man came in front of the bus. Vasupradha who was watching the road from quite some time, could not understand why, of all the people, Pushpahaasa should be the one who was stopping the bus!

Yes, it was her dream man! He had forced the bus to stop. The driver who was already cursing Pushpahaasa under his breath now started making loud noises. But when Pushpahaasa came nearby his abuses came to a standstill as if a cat had bitten his tongue.

His right hand raised to salute Pushpahaasa. Vasupradha got down from the bus to give space to Pushpahaasa to get into the bus. He got in and looked at her.