PASSAGE 1
TV Shows and Long Bus Trips
Long bus rides are like televisions shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end---with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. "Buy Super Clean Toothpaste." "Drink Good’n Wet Root Beer." "Fill up with Pacific Gas." Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of "You Need It! Buy It Now!"
The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon be over and there’s a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat of course, has become harder as the hours have passed. By now you’ve sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the arm rests---even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at no more ways to sit.