A Concious Demon, part the second
The bus halted in front of her and she could smell the dirty exhaust pluming out the rear. Looking straight ahead, she smiled at the driver as she deposited fifty cents into the slot. Macy turned and walked to the back of the bus, falling forward slightly when the bus began moving again. She sat in the furthest back corner and stared out the window.
Houses at first were distinct images. A small blue house with white trim. An upkept yard with a few children's toys scattered behind the chainlink fence. Then a taller red home with a deep red trim. A small covered porch in front housed a swing chair. Two old trees in the front yard had a hammock stretched across them.
As the bus moved closer to the outskirts of town the homes became larger. Yards sprawled, leisurely laying across the ground as though they were napping silently. Completely comfortable and relaxed. These lawns didn't have fences marking their borders, but rose bushes and small clipped hedges. Homes seemed to be untouched by any hand, seeming to be on display rather than lived in. Curtains were drawn in the windows, somehow managing to retain an inviting warmth. Wrap around porches were clear of any clutter - toys or furniture or otherwise. These were the homes that had four doors. A screen for both the back and front entrance, and then a solid oak door for both as well.
The screens lied to passersby. Screens reminded strangers of older days when it was safe to leave your front door open and your screen ajar. When it was safe to walk up to any single house in the summer if you were thirsty and needed some lemonade. Yes, the screens lied to the strangers that went by now. Because it was the oak door behind the screen that kept everything out. The oak door remained closed, locked to the world. Strangers couldn't move past the screen for running into the reality that it isn't a safer time anymore. You can't run up to any old door and ask for a glass of lemonade, because too many asked and then came in without being invited. Too many aked and then took advantage of whatever hospitality the occupants had. That is what these homes were. An act. Cold and calculating, aloof from their surroundings. But somehow they still managed to be the homes people sought and the homes that seemed the most attractive.
All of this Macy noticed as the bus moved along. Soon the fancy homes and manicured lawns blurred into a single moving object. With green and red and blue and yellow all mixing to create a blur of gray and brown. Funny, she thought, that the true character of these "preferred" properties would be revealed once you blurred them all as one. But isn't that how it usually works? If someone is too defined, they are usually masking who they really are or really want. Once you know someone... She paused, unsure of who she was for a brief moment,Once you know someone you think you know everything they can be.
"That's not true is it." A man's voice. To her left.
Surprised Macy turned to see who was there. She had been certain she was alone in the bus. There had been one older woman sitting in the front when she boarded, but that woman had gotten off a few stops later. And she could swear there hadn't been any other stops since then. But here he was.
[again, still working]