by Henry Lewi
iced water
The flyer dropped through his door early one
morning. In bright red with bold white lettering it announced, “The Bus to the
End of the World”. Below the title it continued,
“Transport for London is pleased
to announce a new service from the weekend.”
Take the Bus to the end of the world,
See sights that’ll amaze you,
Watch the changing stars,
Get to meet new and interesting people,
Take tea with the Old Gods,
Have cocktails with such celebrities as
Bacchus, Thor and Odin.
Eat Dinner in the Halls of Valhalla
Catch the Bus at your nearest Bus Stop
Pre-Booking is recommended
All Major Credit Cards Accepted.
TfL permits the use of Oyster Cards on this
route
Concessionary Travel Cards will be
honoured
He quickly went online and found
that there was a single slot left for that evening, so he booked it knowing
that it was all free with his Senior Citizen Bus Pass.
So, what to wear for the event he
thought, opening his large wardrobe. He spotted a white blazer with vertical
red stripes, perfectly complemented by white trousers, white shoes and a white
shirt, he topped this off with a red bow-tie and a straw boater with a red
stripped Ribbon. Admiring himself in the mirror he thought, “I look just like
Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins!”
After a few minutes he muttered
to himself, “that’s strange, I don’t remember buying these clothes – oh well,
they’ll do.”
Just after dusk he waited patiently alone at
the bus stop, no-one was around, and then he saw the bus, it was a new
Routemaster – he remembered the old ones that he used to take to school when he
was a boy in London. It was a number 937 – “A prime number.” The thought just popped into his head – “how
did I know that?”
The destination shown on the front was, “The
End of the World”.
Getting on, he showed his bus pass to the
silent driver and went upstairs to take a seat for a better view, but the
windows were so dark he couldn’t see out.
“That’s weird,” he thought,
“there’s no one else on board, oh well, I’m sure they’ll pick up more
passengers en-route.”
After an indeterminate period of
time during which he thought he must have dozed off and missed most of the
journey, the Routemaster pulled up and the driver announced, “last stop for the
End of the World.”
Looking around he realised he was the last one remaining on the bus. “Strange,” he thought, I haven’t seen any
other passengers. He quickly descended the stairs and got off the bus. It was
getting quite dark and he initially thought he was alone.
“Where were all the signs to the
Tea Rooms, Restaurants, Bars and Halls of Valhalla?” He wondered.
Out the corner of his eye he
noted a number of black clothed figures all heading toward some bright lights.
Following, he was intrigued to see that
the lights flickered on and off and got brighter the closer he got to them
Unexpectedly he was at a gate when a uniformed
attendant shone a light in his face and asked, “where is your admission ticket?”
“I, I don’t have one”, he replied,
as the light grew brighter and more painful, “I didn’t know I needed an admission
ticket,” he said trying to turn away from the light, he found he couldn’t, and it was now becoming increasingly
more difficult to speak.
Suddenly he heard a voice, “It’s OK,
don’t struggle, welcome back Fred, you’ve been in a coma for the last month, but
it’s all fine and you are back with us. There’s a tube in your throat which is
why you can’t speak, so we’re going to remove it now that you’re awake.”
About the author
Henry is now
retired from the NHS, and has had a number of short stories published by Café
Lit. He is a member of the Canvey Writers Group.
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