January 15
by Janine Stephenson
Bus travel isn’t nearly as glamorous
as you might think. First of all, you have to contend with sleeping in a chair.
The last time I slept upright like that was when my little brother was in the
hospital with pneumonia. He turned out just fine but it took nearly a week for
me to lose the crick in my neck.
Then, you have to do lady things in
the back of the bus. It’s hard to do lady things while hanging on to the
bathroom sink.
But what I do like is looking out the
window and seeing things that I’ve never seen before. A few hours ago, we
passed an incredibly wide river. A lady behind us said that it was the
Susquehanna River. I don’t know if I spelled that right. I’ve never heard of it
before. She said that it was an ancient river.
Becca said that it was weird to think
of anything in America being ancient. I agree.
Here’s our letter of introduction.
I, Janine Stephenson and I, Rebecca Gaines,
support Eugene McCarthy for President. We have come all the way from the
University of Wisconsin at Madison to work on Senator McCarthy’s campaign. We
are taking the semester off and our parents know it.
We think that our country has been
torn apart enough. Between both of us, we know six boys who have died in the
war. Our boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, and friends are all being drafted to fight
in a war that we don’t believe in. Our government has no right to tell people
in other countries how to live their lives.
We recognize that we are very
fortunate to have enough food to eat and to be able to go to school. We want
everyone to have the same opportunities we have, no matter what color they are
or what their parents do for a living.
We want money that is being spent on
the military to go towards our own country.
We want people in the ghettos to be treated
fairly. We should allow them to police themselves.
We deserve new leadership.
That’s all we have so far, but it’s
all true. Becca said that we should write about our boyfriends and
ex-boyfriends because it humanizes our statement. I think our letter might be
too simple, but it’s only a first draft.
***
There’s a lecherous man sitting
beside us. He keeps looking over at Becca and I and licking his lips. I thought
that maybe it was because of the cold but then he did some things with his
tongue. I’d like to complain to the bus driver, but Becca says that we should
just ignore him.
