A beautiful day

He could not sleep anyway. The mist of the rancid smog burned his eyes forcing him to close them to a slit. He heard the screeching of brakes and turned to see the black diesel fumes stinging and staining the air. His clogged and bloody nose could not smell the putrid air, nor feel the freezing temperature of this horrible morning. He had fought last night. Everything hurt. His stomach was used to emptiness. The pain of hunger, so long a part of his life had never left him. He no longer worried. He had been able to gather some newspapers the night before to cover his frail body for the chilly sleepless night. A brick had served as his pillow for the night and his head hurt. He had been content until this stupid bus, trying to “score points” by trying to run over a scraggly dog, woke him from his numbness. The dog, almost hit, whimpered out of the way. The driver, missing one of his front teeth, let out an awful laughter, coughed, and spat some dark phlegm out of the window. And so another day began.