A Narrative

Taking the wrong bus
(Sent by Josefina Moukarzel, a student from Buenos Aires, Argentina)
I can clearly remember that 3rd of January of 2004. It was pouring down with rainwhen I rushed off home and took a cab to the bus station. I'm always rushing off, it's just the way I am, I can never get to a place in time.

However, when I got to the station,the bus was still there. So I gave my ticket to the bus driver and got on the bus as fast as I could. No sooner had I got on the bus than it left. I guess, there is no need to saythat it was such a relief to me to be finally sat on my seat. I just couldn't believe that I had arrived 20 minutes later and the bus was still there, as if it had been waitingfor me to come. At least that was what I thought.

Anyway, I made myself comfortable and started looking through the window, when the guy I was sitting next to, tried to strike upa conversation. To tell the truth I didn't fell like chatting at all but, as he seemed to be a nice guy I decided to get into a conversation with him. We started talking abouteverything: music, books, movies and lots of other stuffs. We had a really good chat.

I must say he was a pretty talkative and intelligent man. But the thing was, that afterhaving such a long conversation, that lasted at least three hours, he asked me: "Have you got any friends in Ushuaia?" When I heard that, I thought he had made a mistake. "You meanSalta, yes, I have a couple of friends there," I said, without even knowing that it was me the one that was making the mistake.

Inmediately Immediately after that, he stared atme for a moment, burst out laughing and told me: "I'm very sorry to tell you this, but I'm afraid you've packed the wrong clothes." and kept on laughing loudly for a long time.