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The Compendium
On the Express Bus 73 A: Chapter 12
As I thought about my experiences, I wondered whether the bus was in some way creating the transferences, moving me from my Larry self to the self of others. I asked Charles about my speculation.
Charles provided a thoughtful response.
“In my research, I haven’t found evidence that inanimate objects have power over conscious beings. I believe you are being invited by a person. It just happens, that you and the other self are on the same commuter bus. Your self recognizes a commonality. The other’s self responds. The commonality creates a special bond. One that you both recognize.
So, there’s a special bond, and they welcome you in.
It could have just as easily happened anywhere. Maybe at the bus stop. Or in a grocery store. Or even here at work.”
Charles was right. The transfer of my self from Larry to the elderly Linguistics professor occurred the moment I saw him, walking toward me, at the bus stop. He was walking slowly, leaning heavily on his uniquely carved cane. We had not even exchanged words, just the briefest eye contact.
Professor E.I. Workman had devoted nearly forty years of his life, to studying the federation of languages, which developed in meso-America, before the arrival of the Europeans. He was the co-author of the well-respected, Compendium, and Dictionary, of the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area.
His intricately carved cane had been given to him a quarter century ago, by a tribal shaman during his field work in Nicaragua. Sadly, neither the shaman nor his tribe still exist. Both were victims of the bloody Civil War. The tribal language exists today, only in the pages of Professor Workman’s Compendium.
As I said, I knew all those particulars, even before, he actually reached the bus stop. I was waiting for the bus and then, unexpectedly, I was no longer Larry.”
~~~
Many contemporary hi-tech employees ride express commuter buses daily to and from their work sites. Mr. Larry J. Connors is just one of the many.
Larry is a numbers guy, a veritable filing cabinet for numbers, whose speciality is making fiscal projections, doing benefit analysis, and generating cost-to-price determinations. Unfortunately, Larry is also a “quasi social isolate” who stares at his own shoes to avoid eye contact with others. As our story begins, Larry’s personal life has been reduced to doing his laundry, playing with his dog, and watching old, classic movies on television.
One morning, when he boards his usual commuter bus, everything changes. He is no longer who he is. He is now living another’s life and he is a stranger in his own body.
