#39

In the middle of the night she hears the bus exhale a heavy sigh of exasperation. “Must be having another tough one out there,” she thinks.

The next day after work, she stops at the bodega and buys two cold beers.

“You look tired,” the cashier says. “Long day?”

“You bet,” she says. “Can I have two separate bags for these?”

She walks out and as she passes the bus stop, she leaves one of the beers the ground near the bus stop bench.

That night, lying in bed, she hears the bus sigh as it pulls up to the stop. Then there is a pop. Then silence. Then a slow sound like satisfaction escaping from the back of a throat as the bus pulls away: Ahhhhhh.

“Cheers,” she says from her bed.