Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in 2012. No details have been changed so as to retain the spirit of the original story.
I couldn’t believe he said that he would walk me home… I didn’t even have time to answer him before he yelled to the bus driver to stop at the next stop, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the middle doors so that we could get off. My mind was racing, and I was carrying two bags full of clothes, my work laptop, and books. I was utterly shocked and speechless, unknowing why he wanted to walk me home and why I was letting him.
We were all the way at the bottom of Atwells Avenue, almost a mile and a half away from my apartment building. We walked, he talked, and I listened.. annoyed, tired, agitated, and yet thoroughly amused. Never once did he make a pass at me, he only talked about his life, his child, his family, his job, his wanting to return to school. And I listened, the entire way back to my apartment building.
We stopped along the way, as he insisted that he didn’t need to walk me to my door should I be worried about letting a stranger know where I lived. I stopped, looked at him and the words Meckis 79 embroidered on his hat, and could only manage to ask him, ” What does Meckis 79 mean?” He said it meant, Sick ’em backward, and that 7 and 9 were his lucky numbers… I’ll never know why he wanted to walk me home, or why he did something so genuinely kind… The last thing he told me was that his name was Matt.
Erin Rides the Bus 