Natural Gas

This is a scene outback of the Metro garage for our fleet of city buses. Not only have cars changed but the look of a city bus has too. There used to be an abandoned 50's style one in a field I passed on my way home. It was there for about 25 years. Each trip past it, brought back adventures. I took the bus everyday to school from kindergarten to third grade. Kindergarten? I'm still amazed at that. I had to buy a weekly bus ticket, have it punched twice a day and not lose it. Later when I lived on Deering Street, I took the bus to work in the summer. Along the way, it picked up my 70-something buddy, Fillinger, and he would commence to regale me with anecdotes of his adventures in WWII and growing up in the city. He was what you would call a 'character'. We worked all day together and the stories came non-stop. One particular thing about him was that he gave everyone nicknames based on one's looks or deeds. He even gave Elenka one: "Doris", because he thought she looked like Doris Day. I was 'christened' Rocker, because I reminded him of some rock star gone bad. I was never called by my real name, just Rocker. His stories were tinged with bawdy humor and language and revealed a much simpler day. I enjoyed them , because the city and its history was always the backdrop. I miss the old guy. He was a fine teller of tales. He had gas to go all day!