Story: The Ad Said (part two)

The Ad Said

(part three)

If there was a seat on the bus, they would have grabbed it, dreamed up a dodge when it counted. The sister act had got them out of bus fares before.

But so many women seeking this work filled even the aisle. The curb was still crowded, about a dozen left to see the bus pull away, the driver yelling, “All the room there is!”

They began to edge and shuffle, pacing themselves to separate from one another.

And if they had a friend to speak to, speaking low.

“You trying to get cross town? You two,” the woman said, coming up. “Cross town?”

“That’s right. You got a plan?”

Hettie spoke. Hermie got shy with strangers.

“Sorry. Find me a phone and I’m okay. But hey, see that bridge?”

Chain-link around the factory yard, then a broad, empty field. Another fence and another field. Girders at the river, in a sprawled rectangle…and on the other side porch lights, kitchen windows popping yellow. It was almost six.

“That’s Regisville. There’s a depot at the college. You can connect, wherever you live.”

She left them, and the sisters, throwing thanks, watched her trot, thumb at a truck that didn’t slow.

“It’s a railroad bridge,” Hermie said.

“What else are we gonna do? Least it’s a shorter walk than home.”

They giggled at first. Bravado got old by the time they’d boosted and hiked each other over the second fence. The sisters pieced their way down a ditch and up, and stopped to take inventory. The Regisville lights were brighter. But they seemed of a size with those that pooled here and there on graveled lots, back behind the factories.

“I’m freezing,” Hermie said.

Hettie shrugged. “Hup, two, three, four.”

An hour ago, funny.

“Seriously. We’ll have to pick it up. Forget the shoes. Forget the stockings.”

They marched. They counted cadence. The bridge got higher above as they got closer. They would have to climb an embankment. And the planks under the rails had gaps of inches between.

Hermie burst out laughing.

“You wanna sit down and rest?”

“No. Hettie! We’ll have to move careful, soon as we get into town, see if we spot anything in the gutter.”

“Yeah. I wish we had just a dollar, so we could get coffee and a snack someplace.”

“Wishes, fishes.”

2

he Ad Said

The Ad Said (conclusion)

(2018, Stephanie Foster)