With the New Year off to a great start, I woke up at 3:A.M this morning fully rested. After building a fire in the fireplace,and settled in with a hot cup of coffee, my thoughts turned to what I would like to accomplish this New Year. One thought that came to me,was something my Mom said to me one time. She said,”Aggie don’t ever make a promise you can’t keep, Cuz a promise made is a debt unpaid,and it’s a cloud hanging over your head til you make it right”…So I guess it’s time to try one more time….with my “Texarkana Story” (how I came to getting beat up by a 70 something year old women, on my way to be a Nanny in Houston Texas…..Sooooooo here it goes…..

 

As I settled back in my seat on a Greyhound Bus leaving Bismarck in the early morning hours, I felt an excitement about my new adventure. As we pulled out of Bismarck,headed for Fargo, I was a bit surprised how smooth and quiet those buses rode…this was the first of approx. 30 trips I was to take on Greyhound throughout my life,and never lacked for a wild and crazy story at the end of each trip.

 

My first layover was in Fargo,where I made connections and headed south,for my 2 1/2 day trip to Houston. As we pulled into this Burger King somewhere in S.Dakota sometime in the after noon, the bus driver announced we had a 30min lunch break,and made it “unmistakenly” clear that if you were not back on the bus at the end of 30 minutes you were going to be left…plain and simple. As we all sat on the curb outside the bus eating our lunch, I noticed a guy in his early 30’s with this tall thin elderly lady that appeared to be in her mid-70’s and a bit confused at times. I remember thinking to myself as I watched the interaction between the two, how nice it was for a young guy to be so attentive to his Grandma. As we stood in line to re-board I gave him a smile of encouragement as he helped his Grandma unto the bus. As the days and hours rolled along,and at every lay over, and every stop, I would see this same guy with his Grandma,and with each new stop, she seemed to be getting more tired,and more confused,and always hungary. For some reason I noticed that at each stop, no matter how large the bus terminal, the guy and his Grandma seemed to find me,and each time I would smile at the guy, he would smile back and shrug his shoulders.

 

After another lay over,and another sunrise, I settled back in my seat,and as the bus rolled on mile after mile, city after city, a re-newed excitement came over me as I looked out the bus window and saw a big sign that said,”Welcome To Texarkana”. I wasn’t real sure how many more miles it was to Houston,all I knew that I was on that bus for a couple days,and any town with a part of the name “Texas” in it was a welcome sight. As we pulled into the bus terminal in Texarkana, the driver announced for everyone to take all their belongings off the bus,because this was a “clean and gas up bus stop”, and anything left on the bus would either get thrown out or stolen…and that he wasn’t responsible for either.I thought to my self, “WoW I guess our traveling Grandma isn’t the only one getting all tired and cranky. Our lay over in Texarkana was 1 1/2 hours.

 

As I stood in the re-boarding line,for the bus to Dallas,then unto Houston, I was lost in my own thoughts when I felt this tap on my shoulder. As I turned to see who was trying to get my attention, there stood the guy and his Grandma. “Hi he said, I heard you tell the driver you were going to Houston? “Yah” I am I replied, He said, “Well I change buses here,and I was wondering if you you could look after her. I was a bit stunned,and without thinking, I asked,”Well why aren’t you taking her with you? He said, “Cuz I don’t know who she is”…I just looked at him and said,”You don’t know who she is??? He kinda started laughing,and said,”No,really I don’t… I said, Why are you laughing ? He said,”It was just the look on your face,when I said I don’t know who she is…then he went on to say,”Let me explain, He said” I got on the bus in Grand Forks N.Dakota. The bus was crowded so I sat with her,and from there I was just kinda taking care of her cuz she kept following me around asking me to help her,and seemed confused”. He went on to say,” I asked the driver about her and he said that she got on the bus somewhere up in Canada and is on her way to Del Rio Texas.He said,” I saw you in the bus depot in Fargo,and from your accent you have to be from N.Dakota,so I feel she would be safe with you. I said,”O.K. I can watch her as far as Houston. He said, “There is something you need to know….”Huh? what now? He said,”See that big bulge in her coat pocket? I cut him off right there, I said”Man your not gonna tell me she’s carrying a gun? No, No, he said,reaching out and touching my arm,and half laughing. He said”She has a roll of Canadian money about the size of a cup saucer in her pocket,and I’m worried as she gets into these bigger bus terminals she’s gonna get robbed. O.K I said..I got it. With that settled he waved and wished me the best as he ran to catch his bus. As I stood in line a bit dazed by the events that just happened, I watched the thin pale confused elderly lady as she rummaged thru her bag. As I was looking at her I noticed that under her long tan coat that she was wearing only a night gown and bedroom slippers on her feet. I thought to myself, “How in the world did this elderly lady get this far without someone noticing something isn’t right here.” As the announcement came over the P.A. system what gates were loading, I noticed it didn’t even seem to register with her when they said Del Rio Texas, so I approached her and said, “The bus to Del Rio will be boarding shortly so come with me and I’ll help you get to Del Rio. As we stood in line for a few minutes, she looked at me with these “beady blue eyes and said almost angrily, “Are you gonna kidnap me? I mumbled,almost wearily already, no that’s not in the plans…She started yelling”Your going to kidnap me and my plants ? WoW I thought to myself what did I go get myself into…

 

As we boarded the bus, I sat her in the seat directly behind the driver,taking the seat directly across from her. As the driver got on the bus and finished his head count, he looked down and smiled at me and winked,and said,”So you gonna take good care of the mystery lady? I said, “Yeah I’ll do my best,but if she was such a mystery to all the drivers,why did you all let her come this far…cuz something ain’t right. He said,” All I do is drive the bus,and if they have a ticket…they ride! I said, Well just remember she’s your responsibility first and mine second. He kinda laughed and said, Yep gotcha! As the bus pulled out of the bus depot,we didn’t get but 4 blocks down before she started saying she was hungary,I gave her some of my snacks which seemed to quiet her. As the bus rolled on down the highway it began to get dark,and she began to get tired and cranky, so I gave her my blanket and pillow.As I glanced over at her she was sound asleep. Thank God! I thought to myself,maybe I can get some sleep. So I layed across my two seats with my head on the hard arm rest wishing I had my pillow… I’m not sure how long I had been sleeping when all of a sudden I was awaken with cussing and swearing coming from the back of the bus,and the bus driver yelling at me,”Go get her! She’s gonna wake up this whole________bus! As I stumbled to the back of the bus,half asleep and confused, I saw this man fending her off as she was swinging at him. As I took her by the arm, the guy yelled at me and said,”You need to take care of your__ __ mother. Yeah I will I said, knowing I wasn’t about to get into a war of words,with some stranger,in the middle of the night somewhere in Texas, as to who’s mother she was or wasn’t. As I got her settled back in her seat,and she looked calm, I put my seat back….not meaning to fall asleep…but I did…….Again I don’t know how long I was asleep,only to be awaken,by a mans voice yelling,”Get her off me!!! Get her off me!!!and the bus going all over the road,and a womens voice yelling,”Stop this bus your not going to kidnap me,and poison me with your crackers. As I sat up, I could see she was completely on top of the driver just hitting him. As I jumped to my feet half asleep,and trying to stay standing with the bus swerving all over the road, I (not so gently )grabbed her from the back by her coat trying to pull her off the driver. Just then she swung around and shoved me hard,knocking me down between the front seat and the divider to the steps,jumped on top of me,punching,scratching,and pulling my hair. The next thing I remember was the bus was stopped and the driver pulling her off me. He was yelling,”I’m throwing her off the bus right here! I said, you can’t throw a 70 year old women off the bus in the middle of the night in the middle of no where! The driver said,”This is my bus I can do what I want! Pretty soon a voice came from the back of the bus that yelled”If she can’t control her mother, throw them both off so we can get some sleep!!! I just had it by then and yelled, “This isn’t my mother, my Moms in North Dakota asleep in bed for crying out loud!!! Then I turned to the driver and said,”Just settle down! I know we can’t take her much further,but lets just stop at the next town and bring her to the police station and let them figure it out. With that said, He seemed to be O.K. with it. Then kinda laughing he said, “Do you think you can stay awake til then? As we pulled up to the police station,she looked at me and asked,where are we? I said,”Were at a Motel…were gonna get you a room and some food…With that said, the police officer came on the bus and took her…I wish to this day I would of got the name of the town…cuz I always wondered what the real story was on her. Did she really have family waiting for her in Del Rio….or did she walk away from a nursing home somewhere in Canada in search of a memory she had about Del Rio Texas…I guess I’ll never know…but I’ll always remember and wonder… Thanks Gary….Aggie