Just a Stranger on the Bus

For what felt like forever, I tried to figure out how to make this better. Finally, I asked sweat-and-pickle guy to take a seat a few rows back, and I helped the woman get her little ones into the now-available double seat where we had been sitting. I transferred her bags to the overhead rack above her and quietly gave her some cash and the unopened snacks I had picked up at the last rest stop. She accepted, without question or hesitation or false pride. She thanked me; we made eye contact; and for a split second, her face softened, her eyes relaxed and she breathed for what seemed like the first time since she got on the bus. Then I settled into an open seat near the back.