All Way to Bohemia | Teen Ink

All Way to Bohemia MAG

January 23, 2012
By Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
10 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do not let numbers tell you what to do. You are blood and earth, not theory and chalk." -Welcome to Night Vale


The sign on the pole said the street was called All Street; it was an all-way, and it was also a bus stop. She sat under the pole with her skirt tucked under her legs, the boredom in her eyes hiding the burning excitement in her chest. The sky was turning light purple with sunrise, waiting for the sun to appear, just like she was turning purple waiting for her bus to show. She had a beaten-up suitcase and a beaten-up guitar case and a beaten-up dress on, and a beaten-up wad of money for a long, long bus ride.

She also had a home back down the street somewhere, a home that bowed slow to the ground in the long, long process of falling in on itself. She had a momma too, who languished all day in washerwoman suds and sleep, who forgot to work and forgot to play and forgot to pay the bills. A momma who cried when she thought no one was there. And so the washerwoman's daughter sat on the road looking like pale road kill and carrying all her clothes and all her money in one suitcase, waiting for her bus.

They said there was a life somewhere down this road. She just had to get onto the bus and tell the driver to bring her to the bayous and the city in between. “When you get there,” they said, laughing a little, “ask them a-bring you to Bohemia.”

And so she sat beneath the fluttering street lamp with the signs that said BUS STOP and ALL WAY and waited for her bus to come with the dawn. She was cold. There was frost on the pole, and it'd be on her nose and in her heart soon if she waited any longer.

Five minutes turned into five imagined hours until she saw, on the corner of the way, the glow of headlights and the behemoth bus, coming a-puttering her way.

She stood, but left a piece of her composure on the freezing ground, because it fell from her like shingles from the crumbling roof back home. Oh, her home, back down the street somewhere! And her momma, wallowing in washing! Could she really leave them? The city, they also said – after they told her of Bohemia with a laugh – can eat you, and will. But poor sad momma with the sinking cheeks never ate anything, especially not her daughter.

The bus came sputtering and spitting and spilling up to the corner of All Street, where it stopped with an unhealthy cough. She looked back down the street somewhere. The doors hissed open, and the driver asked through his cigar, “You ­coming, lady?”

She frowned. She was cold. The guitar case was getting heavy. Her stomach was getting heavy. The smell of suds and mold stuck in her nose. The bus driver and the other passengers were frowning back. The sun was showing. Momma never noticed anything anyway, she reasoned, especially not her daughter. So she said, “Yes, I'm coming,” and hitched up her bags and got on board. As she handed the driver her fare, she added, “Take me to the bayous and the city in between them. I'm going to Bohemia.”



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This article has 12 comments.


on Dec. 10 2013 at 7:48 pm
Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
10 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do not let numbers tell you what to do. You are blood and earth, not theory and chalk." -Welcome to Night Vale

thank you! :)

on Nov. 21 2013 at 6:16 pm
Athena19 SILVER, Central Point, Oregon
5 articles 1 photo 103 comments

Favorite Quote:
'Love people. Cook them tasty food.' -Penzey's Spices

I really liked the feel to this piece! The style of writing really fit the story. I want to know what happens next!

on Sep. 27 2013 at 8:45 pm
Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
10 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do not let numbers tell you what to do. You are blood and earth, not theory and chalk." -Welcome to Night Vale

Thank you! :) :)

on Sep. 22 2013 at 7:39 pm
LaChouette GOLD, Mount Vernon, New York
12 articles 0 photos 146 comments

Favorite Quote:
“And then there are the times when the wolves are silent and the moon is howling.”
- George Carlin

Wow, this is great! Very descriptive; I felt like I was there! You read a piece of mine a while ago and you said one thing it needed was atmosphere. I can see what you meant while reading this. Awesome Job! Keep up the good work!

on Jul. 15 2013 at 5:15 pm
Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
10 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do not let numbers tell you what to do. You are blood and earth, not theory and chalk." -Welcome to Night Vale

thanks! :D

on Jul. 15 2013 at 3:03 pm
Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
10 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do not let numbers tell you what to do. You are blood and earth, not theory and chalk." -Welcome to Night Vale

Thank you! :D I'll make sure to read your work, too. :)

on Jun. 16 2013 at 1:35 pm
PurpleBrass1st SILVER, Duncan, Oklahoma
8 articles 0 photos 14 comments

Favorite Quote:
Today you are YOU, that is truer than true. There is no alive who is YOUER than YOU! - Dr. Seuss

This was awesome! It leaves me wondering about the inner life at the end. I hope u can read my new fiction story sometime and help me improve my work. Yours is wonderful!

on Jun. 13 2013 at 11:23 pm
KristinHopkins8 SILVER, Aspen, Colorado
7 articles 0 photos 83 comments

Favorite Quote:
"If a writer falls in love with you, you can never die"

wow that was incredible writing! keep up the great work!

on Jun. 8 2013 at 12:06 pm
Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
10 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do not let numbers tell you what to do. You are blood and earth, not theory and chalk." -Welcome to Night Vale

Thank you! :)

on Jun. 8 2013 at 12:06 pm
Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
10 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do not let numbers tell you what to do. You are blood and earth, not theory and chalk." -Welcome to Night Vale

Thank you! :D

JRaye PLATINUM said...
on Jun. 5 2013 at 9:23 pm
JRaye PLATINUM, Dorr, Michigan
43 articles 10 photos 523 comments

Favorite Quote:
"If you build your house far enough away from Trouble, then Trouble will never find you."

"Have you ever looked fear in the face and said, 'I just don't care.'?"

Just awesome! Short and sweet, leaves the reader curious and dying to see what happens! I loved it, keep up the good work! :)

on Apr. 5 2013 at 7:15 pm
readaholic PLATINUM, Tomahawk, Wisconsin
27 articles 0 photos 425 comments

Favorite Quote:
I'd rather fail because I fell on my own face than fall because someone tripped me up
~Jhonen Vasquez

WOW.  You really have a talent for writing!  This was so good....everything is just amazing!!