Bus Stop

I had watched her for weeks now, firstly out of interest and an appreciation of beauty but as the time went on it became almost obsessive. Ever since the day I moved into that house I had watched her every morning at exactly 08:00 until the bus took her from me at 08:10.
She was stunning of that there was no doubt. She was easily six foot tall and not an ounce of fat on her. She looked probably late twenties or early thirties at the most with long flowing blonde hair that I had never seen either tied back or out of place. She was always immaculately dressed and I figured she must work in a bank or something like that as she always wore a short skirt and jacket combination. She looked way over six feet anyhow due to the fact she always wore heels, I had never seen her in anything else. Mind you I only saw all for a few seconds as she crossed the road to take her seat at the bus stop that was also half of my garden fence at the front of the house.
Morning had become a ritual. Out of bed at 07:30 – quick wash and brush up, pull my clothes on and make a coffee before settling down at my window seat and watch the junction over the road from me. She would emerge from the junction, cross the road to the bus stop and take her seat and start to read her magazine. My eyes never left her and hers never left her magazine until she heard the bus coming around the corner at the bottom of the street at which point she would neatly fold her magazine stand up and hail the bus. She would climb aboard and would be gone for another day. Funny though I had watched the bus stop at the other side of the road for hours and had never actually seen her arrive home. Maybe she got a lift.
Months passed and then came the day my obsession started. Not that I had intended to become obsessed it just kind of happened, not that it was my fault either mind you – that was the fault of my neighbor Paul.
Paul called one Wednesday offering me two tins of fence varnish that he had spare from doing his fence. He was a right jobs worth was Paul. He hadn’t bought over that was for sure it was just his subtle way of making sure my fence matched his and thereby restoring the neighborhood to normality as mine appeared to be the odd fence out.
Sunday arrived and being as how even a goddess needs a day off I decided to please my neighbor and varnish the fence. Brush and tin in hand off I went and set about my fence with some amount of indifference. As I got to the bus stop and started to varnish around it my obsession started. Well maybe started isn’t quite the right word more like exploded into my mind blocking all other thoughts.
I was kneeling on the ground varnishing the fence just about a meter away from the very seat the blonde goddess sat every morning. It was an old type of bus stop with single wooden shelves built into the back serving as makeshift seats. It had only half sides, a roof and a high back. Two things grabbed my attention at this point. Firstly the back of the shelter did not actually start until it was a good half meter from the ground and secondly the floor was, well wasn’t floor really just dirt and just under where she sat every morning it was all loose and churned up. I realized at this point her heels must chew the ground up every morning a she read her magazine. I think for sure this was the point my brain decided to derail and career out of all control.
I decided then I was going to get real close to those heels and nothing else mattered.
I finished the fence in record time and then in a fit of madness cut about half a meter off the bottom of my fence that was flush with the rear of the bus stop. Not that easy either due to the hedge at the foot of my garden. I returned to my side of the fence and crawled into my hedge. The view was perfect, my head was virtually under the seat and I had a perfect ground level view of that chewed up patch of dirt. I pulled myself out of the hedge and went to the shed for the finishing touch. I retrieved a couple of cloth sacks and filled one loosely with old soil and weeds and left the other empty. The full sack was placed half under the fence and half sticking into the bus stop just under her seat. The empty sack just lay on the floor next to it. I went back indoors and enjoyed a hot bath and a big smile. Soon it would be Monday.
Only it wasn’t, soon that is, time just dragged and dragged until my alarm woke me at 07:30. I got up and had a quick wash and brush up and pulled on some clothes. The kettle switch clicked and I poured the water into my mug and the smell of coffee brought a smile. I settled into my chair by the window and waited, staring at the junction just over the road. She emerged at 07:59 wearing a black jacket, white blouse, black skirt and black heels. I couldn’t tell if she was wearing stockings or tights but I somehow knew it would not be the latter. She took her seat as usual and out came the magazine. Below this I could see nothing.
At 08:03 the routine changed. For the first time since I had watched her, her gaze left her magazine. Only for a second but it was noticeable. She turned her head slightly to the right and looked down under her seat and then back to her magazine. Normal service resumed up until 08:10 when the bus arrived and she folded her magazine, stood up and was gone. She had clearly noticed the sack under her seat, there could be no other reason for her looking. Tomorrow would be the test.
I arrived in late that night – work had been busy and I stayed behind to catch up on a few things. I arrived home about 19:00 and had a bath. Couldn’t help wondering if the routine would change now and she would pick a different seat. Hell I was getting more obsessed by the second.
By 07:55 I was focused on the junction over the road holding my coffee only this time my hand was shaking just a little bit. She emerged at 07:59 as usual this time in grey pin stripes and different black heels. She crossed the road to the bus stop and took her usual seat. I smiled to myself; truly she was a creature of habit. This time there was no change to routine, her eyes never left her magazine until the bus was heard and then as usual she folded her magazine, stood up and boarded the bus. I must have looked like a head case at this point wearing such a large grin.

I arrived home earlier that evening and held back from a bath. Once dark I went to the garden crawled into the hedge and emptied the soil and weeds from the sack. Now I could have a bath.
The alarm woke me a usual on Wednesday morning. Well not quite as usual, this time my eyes focused on a new time. The alarm said 05:30 and I jumped out of bed like an excited teenager on their first date. I had decided that by 08:15 this morning I would be either in heaven or in Jail.
I didn’t wash or brush up this time. Could do without the smell of aftershave or soap this morning. I pulled on my clothes, all black and all warm and headed out to the garden. I crawled into the hedge and crawled into the now empty sack. I shuffled under the fence and lay there where the sack had been the other two mornings. I scraped a small hole into the sack over my left eye and could see the churned up dirt only about ten centimeters away. I waited. I waited for what seemed an eternity.
I had no idea of the time and did not dare move. I only knew for sure it was almost 08:00 because I could now here the clack clack of heels striking the concrete as the goddess approached the bus stop.
The most amazing pair of black heels appeared into my vision, took two steps then turned and I could hear the wooden seat creak slightly as it took her weight. She crossed her legs and I was in heaven. Her left foot was about 7 centimeters away from my face and seemed enormous. I could smell the expensive leather and hear the slightest of creaks as she started raising her foot up onto her heels. The shoes were black again and the soles were thick, roughly three centimeters. Her heels were about ten centimeters tall and came to steel tipped end of about one centimeter diameter. I could hear the page of her magazine turn and I knew now he was settled until the bus arrived and I could just lie there and enjoy the view.
Every five or so seconds she raised her foot up on her heel and twisted her foot to the left then right and her foot would slap down into the dirt. Each time her foot lifted I could see the tip of her heel biting into the earth and force the dirt to crumble around it. As it twisted I could also see the dirt being forced to yield to the sheer unaware power she held over it. As her foot slammed into the dirt I could see small bits of dirt explode from under it. Such beauty, such power. Her foot rose again and this time I caught sight of a small spider crawling into the recently vacated area of dirt. I watched it, quite fascinated in the way it started cleaning its legs and abdomen with the minute hairs on them. It all seemed rather pointless as her foot slammed down once more and the poor creature disappeared from view and I heard the page of a magazine turn. Her foot rose again and the crushed and lifeless spider rose with it. It was stuck to the sole of her shoe and till clearly visible as a spider. The loose dirt had prevented a total crush but it was clearly dead. I stared fascinated by the scene of such unknowing carnage so close to my line of vision. This time the foot did not return to the dirt. I couldn’t believe what was happening.
Not only could I not believe it but it scared the hell out of me. As I heard the sound of another page turning her leg uncrossed. Her left foot raised itself from the dirt, the spider still clinging to the front of her sole as her foot swung slightly away from me. Her right foot was streaking its way toward my face as it slammed into the dirt more or less in the same space of dirt the left foot had just vacated. I blinked as a speck of dirt was sent flying through the slight hole in the sack and landed in my eye. It hurt a little but I did not dare move. Her left foot started to swing being her right and I realized then she wasn’t crossing her legs this time – well not in the conventional sense anyhow. I couldn’t see much but I knew her left foot was now curled behind the right and there it stayed. The sole of her left shoe stopped millimeters from my left eye and my vision was filled by the sheer blackness of the sole. Sheer that is apart from the brown carcass of a dead spider slightly crushed and twisted only a millimeter from my eye.
The smell of shoe leather filled my nostrils and my senses were all full of goddess. Another page turned and her left foot shifted slightly and the rhythmic tapping started. At first the spider grew more distant as her foot moved away from me and then it rushed closer and my heart froze.
Her sole smashed into my face in the next split second. Well I guess to me it felt like it smashed into me but to her it was nothing more than a light tap. The spider was now pushed into my eye through the hole in the sack and then it was gone again only to return a couple of seconds later. A creature of habit indeed. That first morning when she broke from routine was about the same timescale. She must follow the same pattern every morning and that first time she met with resistance to her foot she checked what was in her way. Nothing more than a sack of dirt that meant nothing to her and was now part of her routine.
My god I was in heaven as she slammed her foot repeatedly into my face. The spider was a little more crushed each time it slammed into my eye but hung on in there. My nose was starting to hurt a little at the sharp edge of her sole tapped against the bridge over and over again. I could not believe what was happening to me and I felt a bulge growing in my trousers. It seemed to go on for an eternity until the sound of a diesel engine stopped everything. I heard the magazine fold and she stood up, her heels biting into the dirt mere centimeters from my face. She stepped forward and boarded the bus. As she walked the spider finally let go as it was instantly transformed into nothing more than a smear on the pavement as her left foot hit concrete.
I waited for a while before I crawled out of the sack and returned to the house and got ready for work. The only slight change I made was to place the corner of the empty sack just where her heels had landed in the dirt. Let’s just see exactly how much of a creature of habit she really is.
I couldn’t wait for tomorrow.