A Fork in the Road

Tonight on the x90 bus ride home I sit up in the very front seat by the driver because I have to get off at the first stop to run an errand. The afternoon bus driver is always a very chatty guy and although I am not really the type that randomly talks to everyone somehow we get into a discussion about the economy.

All of a sudden someone on the bus shouts “Where are you going!” There is a fork in the West Side Highway right after we leave the World Financial Center- one way goes down into the rest of financial district and one that leads into the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. The driver who I guess had been distracted by our conversation was starting to go into the tunnel! He slams on his breaks.

OH SH*T! He squeals. The look on his face is pure panic. The bus is now completely stopped in middle of the road, cars whizzing all around us. I can tell the bus driver realizes he is completely screwed. This is a big deal. It is not like he could just keep going and then turn around somewhere. The tunnel will take you all the way under the river deep into the depths of Brooklyn. It would take forever to go all the way through, then try to get back into Manhattan. Plus the Financial Center is the very first pick-up, there are still all the people waiting at the rest of the financial district stops. The whole schedule of x90 buses now would be completely messed up.

The driver decides there is no way he can go into that tunnel. He suddenly takes a leap of faith and does something none of us expect. He starts to drive up onto the median to try to return back to the right side of the road. Only it is not just one of those sidewalk medians- it is like a really big cobblestone median with plants and such that is at least a foot off the ground.

Of course the bus does not clear this easily and it gets stuck. Everyone on the bus gasps as horrible noises ensue from underneath and the bus lists dangerously to the side. I throw myself flat on my seat thinking that the bus is going to flip over and we are going to be pancaked all over the West Side highway.

And then…..he makes it over. The bus finally clears the giant median and we are once again on steady asphalt and heading the right direction into the financial district. I am sure the bus is not okay but we are.

The driver is visibly shaken up.

I can’t believe I did that. I even took a two hour nap today. Man oh man.

He is muttering under his breath. I see the look of despair on his face and feel it in the pit of my stomach. I want to say to him “ It’s okay I mess up real bad in my job every day too.” But since I feel like the whole fiasco was partially my fault I keep my mouth shut and don’t say anything. There is nothing to say.