On the Bench

      So, there's this bench near my place.  I think it's a bus stop but I never see the bus stop there.  Until recently, the bench would remain empty all day but then, late in the day, three women would show up and sit together on the bench.  One was always dressed in flannel sort of pj pants and she often wore a hoodie.  Flip flops completed her ensemble.  I thought of her as Chillin' because she clearly was.  Not many words but not a bone of uptight in her.  To her right was the woman I thought of as Cool.  Clearly she was how cool?  Uber cool.  Always dressed comfortably and just kinda rocking out, willing to take on whatever came her way.  To Chillin's left was the one I thought of as Ms Sociability.  OMG!  That woman had the sparkliest eyes. She engaged every person who walked by, she was so open and, clearly, so much fun!  I LOVED watching and listening to her.  

     These three women all shared the bench and a bottle (or maybe two) of Pinot Noir.  I imagine they had places to go, things to do earlier in the day but later in the day?  Later in the day it was time to enjoy their friendship and their evening rest on the bus bench.  I always retired for the evening before they left the bus bench so I don't really know how their evening ended.  I just know they weren't there in the morning.

   One evening a week or so ago, I noticed that the bus bench occupants had changed.   Now there are only two women there.  Irritability is big and fat and she spills over and takes up a good part of the bench.  She wears shirtwaist dresses, with big blue/grey/ brown floral prints.  She reminds me a lot of someone I know from long ago.  Maybe you have read of my friend Ms. Melancholy?  I think they shop at the same thrift store but Irritability is a larger, sloppier woman.  She is grumpy and sour and her mood and her general demeanor repulse me.  Her partner on the bench is Sadness.  Sadness is thinner and grayer and also doesn't talk much. She is dressed in drab, baggy cords and usually has a long sleeved blue/gray button up shirt.  She wears Birkenstocks and socks on her feet, for god's sakes!. These two sit there every evening now.  They will not make room for Levity or Creativity (long ago guys on the bench who still come around once in a while).  They don't bring anything to the bench - no Pinot, no gin, no weed, no chocolate, no nothing.  

   The relaxed, lively, cool crew must have either gotten on a bus eventually or, at the very least, they found another place to hang out.  Oh no!  Could they have died?  

   I am just going to have to watch these two newcomers.  Why do you think they are sitting on the bench at the (phantom) bus stop?