inside susan

susan catches the bus into town at ten-thirty a.m. she sits on the back seat. she looks at the man in front's head and thinks

how his fat wrinkled neck is like a large carrot sticking out

from the collar of his shirt. she adds up the numbers on her bus ticket to see if they make twenty-one

but they don't. maybe she shouldn't bother going to school at all

then. her friends will be in the yard with their arms folded on their chests

shielding their breasts to try and make them look bigger

whilst the boys will be too busy playing football to notice. the bus is waiting on the high street when suddenly it begins to rain

torrentially and it sounds like someone has emptied

about a million packets of dried peas on top of the roof of the bus. what if it just keeps raining