Bus Romance Woman, Solo

Lil Wood
Lil Wood
Jul 27, 2017 · 1 min read

This morning the white woman from the bus romance sat across the aisle from me. No longer accompanied by her handsome black man in fluorescent high viz, she’s now left with only the patterns and textures she can carry with her. She takes off her coat and wads it up behind her. She sticks her feet out in the aisle to stretch her legs. She’s wearing fetching black and white lace-up rainboots. She has big hoop earrings and her arms are bare. The thickness of her arms and abdomen offset her long legs and lank hair. She is not bothering with good posture or trying to look cute for anyone. Her deep nasal bray is folded up behind her dark lip stick. She has a double-chin when she looks down at her phone. The light on the bus is ghoulish for her skin tone. I can see the flesh of her face drooping off her cheek bones. This is only unfair if she gives a damn about any of it and — for the moment — she doesn’t seem to.

Lil Wood

Written by

Lil is short for Lilith. Outside of her corporate editing gig, she writes about comic books, transit and life (Paste, Newsarama, Stackedd) lilithwood.com

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade