0 March Secret Agent #43

TITLE: Destiny's Plan
GENRE: Women's Fiction

On a moonless summer night, a Greyhound bus rushes along a lonely stretch of road, its headlights penetrating the blackness. In the thoughts of Men, a bus is an innocuous conveyance, transporting all sorts of strangers. But, in that single moment, all are joined in an unspoken united purpose: to reach their destination. The simple act of moving from point to point is taken for granted. It is on these rare, unintended occasions when paths cross, lives intersect, and the Fates intervene. Directions, once solidly set, change. Destiny is fickle, humbling human arrogance. It spins, It weaves, and It cuts lives on a whim.

June 1st, 1967 ~ Houston ~ Greyhound Bus Station

The image of Papá waving good-bye still scorched Raquelita’s mind. She tried to swallow, but it was impossible. After last night, her mouth was dry and raw. Desperate to erase the painful memory, she stared around the waiting hall, her gaze hopscotching from person to person, reading the emotions of her fellow travelers: excitement, fear, exhaustion. Marité, her younger sister, showed curiosity. Mamá, as usual, flashed bold irritation, made clearer with every grating heel tap on the tiled floor. The wooden benches, the incessant crisscrossing of travelers, and the jarring noise of the loudspeakers aggravated Mamá’s tense disposition past its limits.

The two-hour connection seemed endless, and all destinations had been announced except theirs. Not that she was eager for her bus to arrive; given the chance, she would turn back to her father in San Antonio immediately.