"The Smile" by Andrew Solano

Next stop Union Station! It was just another typical day on the 120x bus, people frantically enter the bus at central station on Sixteenth and Market St.. Everyone is doing their own little thing, voiding out the world and going in to a complete state of daze. There’s a middle aged business like woman that stood before me listening to her new Ipod Touch, she avoids everyone that walks by, acting like she owned the world. The woman seems to be in a pissed off mood focusing on her Ipod like it’s the last grain of rice on earth.

An older aged hefty Latino woman dressed in a housekeeping dress enters the bus carrying a wide array of items she held a water bottle, a book, a purse, and a backpack. It was hard for her to contain all these items because of her oddly shaped body. Bam! She drops her water bottle under the seat of the business lady. I ask the hefty lady, “ Do you need help .” No answer. Just a smile of despair, she most likely smiled because she spoke no English. This smile had to mean something though. It was a universal way of communication.

I reached under the business women's seat in front of me to grab the hefty Latino ladies water bottle, but couldn’t reach. The business ladies high end Coach purse, and Chanel coat lied in my path. The business woman seems to be tempered by me reaching under her seat. Her eyes roll back and forth and body stiffens up as a dead man lying in a grave. Shoving her pampered hands and fake acrylic nails under the seat she grabs the water bottle, an uncontrollable magnitude of anger is released. The business woman shoves the water bottle into the Latino women's hand, and gives a snobby head throw.

You’d think someone would offer to help this woman by picking up the water bottle for her but everyone just stares at her in awe. People on the bus seem to have no care towards one another, it’s like we all speak a different language. The Latino woman gathers all her belongings and grabs a seat. I look up at her and she gives another cheerful smile.No words spoke just a smile, it was a universal way of saying thanks. I look in front of me and I notice the business woman look at me. We make eye contact but pretend like we never saw each other. We look up once again make eye contact again, I smile. She sees my smile and she gives a obscene smirk. I then look back behind me to see what others are doing, I see nothing but people texting or listening to music. I question myself asking have I also been transformed into one of these dazed and disgruntled beings; that try to avoid the outside world by entering into a sort of trance. I think to myself no it can’t be.

The bus starts to roll again to the next and final stop. I look at the bus driver and he shakes his head, I believe the shaking of the head was a sign that we were taking off. He pops some BBQ sunflower seeds in his mouth and drives to the final stop. The final minutes of the ride are relatively bumpy I keep looking foreword through the windshield, not wanting to look back at the self centered people on the bus, but when I do I smile just like the Latino Lady did. The power of a smile is great, it could mean a million things. We hit a major bump and I bounce out of my seat, I see the Latino woman, this time she is counting her change to pay for her bus fare. She still has that smile on her face, it was delightful. She taught me that, even if we don’t speak the same language we can communicate greatly with our expressions. The business lady communicated she was self centered by her chagrin looks, the Latino Lady communicated she was delighted by life with her smile, the bus driver communicated he was more interested in eating than his job. A cycle of communication with no words.