The Devil's Carnival

There were several crows picking at the carcass of a dead animal in the centre of the road and Bob Olster had to swerve into the opposite lane to avoid the dinner party. Bob was disgruntled and impatient to get this done and so, if not more, were his passengers. The damn bus had broken down five times in the last two hours and their arrival at Good Hope city was delayed indefinitely. Despite the less than stellar situation, not to mention their collective moods, Bob had tried his best to stay calm but that last breakdown had been the straw that broke the camel’s back and by break he meant gripped it tight and twisted it until it snapped. He wanted to be done with this trip, this bus and these ungrateful bastards who have yet to stop nagging. It wasn’t as if he wanted the damn thing to break down. How was he supposed to know it hadn’t seen a service since the end of the cold war? How was he supposed to know there was a leak in the radiator that had been patched with duck tape? How was he supposed to know that something was wrong with the engine and it kept overheating? Exactly, he didn’t and couldn’t have. All he wanted was for the mobile scrap heap to reach Good Hope and for his retirement to begin. This was to be his last trip and his few belongings were in the back along with the rest of the luggage. Once he got off this piece of s**t Clara would be waiting for him and their new life together could begin. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on and the very thought of her made his head spin. He had met her online five months ago and they were married two months ago. Initially he had been very self conscious, being nearly thirty pound over obesity and being nearly five times her age, but none of that lasted very long. She loved him, she really did and that was the only thing that kept him focused. Bob didn’t know it but there was someone on the bus having a far worse day than he was and for him there was no way of escape. “I told you. I did tell you, didn’t I? And was I right? Yes I was, but do you ever listen? No, no you don’t. See what happens when you don’t listen to me?” Harold Parker, gray haired with a friendly face, didn’t say a word. He didn’t dare. Nothing could possibly come out of his mouth to remedy the situation. His only salvation was that he knew as much. Tessa his wife had no intention of listening anyway. Instead she had he nose in the air, her eyebrows raised so high they brushed heaven’s gate and her fingers running along the string of pearls, the only thing she liked complimenting more than herself, around her neck. “Yes dear.” The two were on their way to visit their daughter who had given birth to their first grandchild no more than a week ago. They were eager to get to Good Hope and eager to meet the little pink foot. It was probably going to be their only given how their daughter struggled to conceive and their thirty year old son was still convince he was eight teen. No matter, they were thrilled and just couldn’t wait, Harold for more reason that one. Taking the bus had been his suggestion, a way to spare some expense he argued. It had been the wrong argument. Tessa insisted on flying, saying that she had too much class for a common bus and that she would have none of it. Unfortunately the argument carried on so long that they could no longer get tickets for the only plane heading that direction. So, they took the bus and Harold started praying he would live to see daylight. Tessa didn’t slow down for as much as a second. She kept rambling on and on and as for poor old Harold he stopped listening, he just through in a ‘yes dear’ every now and again for good measure. Just so she believed he was still listening. It was a defence mechanism his father had often spoken about and one he adopted and only understood almost ten years into the marriage. Not a moment too soon. Instead of paying any real attention to his wife Harold was staring at two teenagers attached at the mouth. Those two hadn’t let go of each other since they got on and to an old man it was just a little revolting. Harold liked to think he was hip with the times’, if that was still what the kids called it. He didn’t care for the men marrying men and the women marrying women, hell he didn’t even care that the boy was black and the girl white. They had every right to do as they pleased and it was none of his business. Love is a beautiful thing and there should be more of it but while these two loved each other very much, clearly, he just couldn’t stand the public snogging. He didn’t care who it was, there was no need for that kind of behaviour in public, he didn’t care which way it went. Perhaps it was his age and how he had been raised to him it looked like the last of society’s moral ground was crumbling away. The kids weren’t playing outside anymore, fifteen year olds getting pregnant, the government, the terrorists and now this. What was going on? Was it just him? “Are you listening to me Harold?” He wasn’t but replied anyway. “Yes dear” Unfortunately Tessa saw through that one. “Oh really? Then repeat what I just said.” “Yes dear.” s**t. It occurred to him just a moment too late that he had made the biggest mistake since that fat joke he told Tessa a week ago. He had been caught and his wife lowered her nose out of the air just long enough for Harold to see just how bad he was going to get it.