The Differing Sides of a Story | Teen Ink

The Differing Sides of a Story

January 16, 2008
By Anonymous

Woman’s P.O.V.
As my son and I briskly walk down the street in the cold mid-autumn air, I see the bus down the block, approaching our stop. I yank at my son’s arm to go faster, and we take off running to catch the bus, but, with my longer legs, I run faster. I sweep my son of his feet, and he lets out a surprised yelp turned laugh. We both catch the bus in time and board, sitting in the back, across from a short teen-aged girl.


I start to doze and dream about the impending events. My son swings his feet back and forth next to me humming the Bob the Builder tune. My daydream suddenly turns to Bob. After an eternity, my bus nears a certain stop that’s been on my mind all day. Like expected, a man in dreadlocks and a suit boards in all calmness and slowly
moves toward the back. I try to refrain a smile, but it starts to break out on my face. This man is my lover; my life after my husband left my son and me. He spots me and holds out his arms and I run into them, but I feel so light, that the floor disappears and gravity doesn’t exist.

Child’s P.O.V.


My mom is funny. This morning, she eats her food fast and pulls me down the block like a crazy person. Maybe it’s because my mom, my new dad, and I are all going to Upstate New York today on this special train that goes really far. I could never remember its
name. We catch the bus (more like, my mom catches it since she picked me up and ran to the bus stop). We take our seats across from this girl with lots of bracelets around her wrists. She’s funny, too. I guess all girls are funny.


My mom and I are on the bus for a while, approaching her boyfriend’s stop I’m less nervous than her (I’m not nervous at all, really). She’s twitching, but I don’t think she’s aware of it. I’m just sitting down humming Bob the Builder even though he’s not my favorite character. But he’s on TV a lot. We finally reach the stop midway through the eleventh time I hummed the theme, and Mr. New Daddy boards with his usual slowness. My Mom flashes this funny-looking smile as he holds out his arms for her. She runs into them sloppily and I see him smile at her clumsiness. I laugh and wave. My mom’s funny.

Omniscient Author P.O.V.


Cherri and her son Marc looking forward to their weekend in their vacation home in Buffalo, New York with Cherri’s new lover, Jordan. She met him two years ago on the very same bus she ran the street to catch. In fact, he’s the one who saw her running down the street and asked the driver to wait until she caught up.

The bus is practically empty, except for the unfortunate who had to wake up early for work, and the occasional teen looking to find somewhere to hang out so they won’t be locked up at home. Cherri and her son sit across from one such teen, but pay no heed to her as they wait for Jordan to board. Cherri thinks of distractions while Marc thinks of fun things. One is fidgety and the other is happy in his childlike bliss.


Jordan, a naturally down-to-earth person, smiles at the dinner he plans to have for Cherri and the surprise he has afterward, while waiting for the bus. He plans to be a good husband and father to Cherri’s kid. He plans to spend well into his old age, when his dreadlocks have thinned and fallen out, with this woman he found running down the street. He used to dream that she was running to him, but it was just a fantasy. The bus arrives and his daydreams end. He boards and her aura draws his eyes in her direction. He loves this women and he would never leave her.


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