The Wayward Bus

A plaster Virgin of Guadalupe rides wired to the dashboard of a bus named Sweetheart, and Juan Chicoy, its half Mexican, half Irish driver, talks to her the way other men talk to themselves. Rain has swollen the river at Rebel Corners and the bridge is doubtful, and the passengers who board are each carrying a version of themselves rehearsed for years: the businessman certain of his own decency, the boy with the ruined skin who wants to be called Kit, the blonde every man aboard decides is his.