Chapter 13

It's Thanksgiving and everyone who can afford a car get's to stay home. The roads are empty. The bus, however, is running on a holiday schedule and so there are plenty of people at the bus stop. Nobody is talking. A homeless woman comes down the street talking crazy. Two or three cars zip down the street, then nothing for five minutes.

After too long the bus makes its way up 5th and is full of people from Whitier. Stevie pays his $1.25 and has to stand. He falls asleep a little bit and almost falls down when the bus cranks up the juice.

There are too many people at each stop and the bus stops anyways. It opens all the doors although no ones rang for stop, and the people come pouring in. Each and every stop they all just push themselves in. The holiday bus schedule could kill someone. A women screams from somewhere in the back. It's soon muffled by a boom box and singing from man sitting in the senior section. Some of the other passengers standing around him start dancing or bopping their heads and tapping their shoes.

Stevie grabs AC when he gets on and they share a bit of a handle.
"Happy Thanksgiving dude." Stevie says
"Wow, It is Thanksgiving, fuck, I totally forgot." AC says
"Yea," Stevie says, "I want to get the lieutenants together for dinner tonight."

They quietly ride down wilshire into Beverly Hills. The bus stops at Beverly and AC pulls Stevie off the bus. Ruth is hidden away but sees them jump off the bus and pushes and shoves her way to the exit.
"I know a shop that sells $3.00 donuts, let me buy you one." AC says
"Alto, Alto!" Ruth screams and runs up and joins them. They all walk down to the expensive donut shop on Beverly. AC buys 3 and they take Brighton back down to Spalding. The three of them tally the flock and contemplate certain sheep. AC lusts after his newest convert. Ruth is fast pushing to leave town. Stevie admits that it could take a couple more months or longer, he mentions something about a cult not being recession proof. They walk in twenty minutes late to work.

The donuts are fucking spectacular and worth the verbal/written warning. They clock in. All day long AC mentions how good the donuts are. Sam has had to listen to it all day and so on his lunch break he runs down and buys $10 worth, so like three, and doesn't share them with AC. A Bavarian chocolate cream filled, freshly made raspberry jam filled and a tigers tail the size of your arm. Work sucks. They clock out.

Chapter 12

The bus stop is cold and broken. There's not even any strange script and flashing lights. People start to collect around the bus stop and soon there are enough people for a strong arm bank heist. Stevie's head fills with ideas. He drops a couple manifestos on the ground next to the building. Inside the building is a bustling morning cafe run by some business savvy Latinos. It always looks so warm inside the cafe. Stevie contemplates juevos rancheros. but the bus comes roaring up to the stop. He lines up and gets on out of habit. His mind is in the cafe pouring some salsa on his breakfast while he digs into his slacks and pulls out $1.25, tries to put the quarter and the dollar in at the same time. It goes smoothly and he strides to his multi-colored seat in the front section.

The bus rumbles down Wilshire and hits all the potholes.

Beverly Hills has started to put up it's holiday decorations. Thanksgiving must be right around the corner.

Dammit! Stevie had hoped to be out of Los Angeles by now. Having some fantastic cult Thanksgiving out in the desert. Eating food that's been grown by the commune. Eating some turkey and pig that have been raised on the commune farm.

Stevie gets off at little Santa Monica and Wilshire and heads down to work. He wonders how he got so far off track.

He clocks in, work sucks, he clocks out and walks over to Rodeo to hand out pamphlets but the police are all over him in ten minutes. Stevie text some friends in the back of the police car while they drive him to the city limits; Doheny. He texts Sam and a couple dudes to meet him on Wilshire and they will sneak over to Whole Foods on Crescent. They do it, and put pamphlets in peoples baskets and smile and the manger throws them out.

The police are waiting outside and everyone is taken to Beverly Hills jail with charges of soliciting religion. Golden bars with the cells designed by somebody paid to much for tasteful jail cells. It's perp friendly areas to relax while the paperwork is drawn up and a $400 fine levied. They're told that if any more "Stevie Land" pamphlets are found around town, they'll come and take them to jail from The Baron and talk with the owner and make things difficult for them.

It's one in the morning when they let them go. They all catch the 704 down Santa Monica and get off in different stops.

Chapter 11

Stevie gets up on time, and takes a shower and eats breakfast. The loft is empty for once. He digs through his change jar and walks out the door. He walks down the hallway and gets in the elevator. The bell dings, doors open and he gets in. It flutters down five stories and opens and he's on the street in a second, after saying good morning to the security guard.

The sign at the bus stop says it's arriving soon. Soon takes fucking forever. Stevie zones out at the buildings across the street. They're still ugly, except somebody new has moved in and changed their window covering to a red blanket. It's bold and stands out against the ugly dirt colored building.

The bus arrives and Stevie shuffles on and pays his $1.25. There are some good seats left in the front. He sits next to a Korean woman talking on the cellphone. She's loud and he's uncomfortable. A certain mood is set.

Stevie looks out the window at the Wilmer stop. He hopes to see Ruth. She's not here. AC and Sam don't get on at the Western stop either. Stevie rides to work by himself. He fiddles with his phone, reading the NY times digitally. Something about Ireland going bust, and Iceland soon to come. No joke. Not just car companies and insurance companies, but whole countries. The bus keeps moving; Stevie turns off the paper and soon falls asleep.

He dreams the bus becomes a gigantic worm making its way down Wilshire. There are all kinds of gnats, lady bugs, flies, beetles and hornets gracefully buzzing and flying and sliding down the boulevard at 40 -60 mph.

The worm weaves in and out of insect traffic. Most of the bugs don't like to be behind the worm and buzz around it. Everyone is going to work.

The bus stops at Fairfax and lets some humans out of the gigantic worm. The worm becomes a bus again. Stevie wakes up from his warm little bus ride dream. He gets up and stands by the door, his stop is next. He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a couple pamphlets. He puts one behind the driver and another on the floor. People are always looking down on the ground.

On the Televsion he catches an Associated Press piece about a global economic crisis. Something about a Russian Credit Default Swap that caused the whole thing, well, put the whole thing over the top. The proverbial Russian Straw that breaks backs. Something about a 50 Billion dollar Ponzi Scheme and a lot of angry people.

The bus stops and Stevie gets off. Work sucks but he's glad to have it. After work he takes the bus home.

Chapter 10

The bus is taking forever today . The LED sign at the stop mentions that the bus will arrive in three minutes. The homeless are stirring in the early morning light. Some just flip over and bury their heads into their arms. Laid out on the sidewalk. They like living this way. Ti's the only way they know how. Some other more sophisticated homeless are hanging out at the Latino newspaper and magazine booth, sipping on coffee.

Traffic starts to pick up.

A city truck with hazard lights flashing pulls into the bus stop. It stops. The driver puts it in park and grabs his coffee. Two guys jump out of the back and start throwing cones around.

The 720 double parks and collects Stevie and some others. It flys down the boulevard, and seems to take all day picking up the riders at the subway stops. AC gets on and the bus is so full that they don't see each other until they get off at Santa Monica.
"Hey Dude!"
"Oh dude, I didn't even see you."
"I know."

They both wait at the signal and chit chat for a minute and it turns and they make their way to The Baron. Stevie clocks in. Works sucks. He clocks out.

Stevie and Sam head over to a chic little bar on little Santa Monica and get smashed after work. Sam mentions that guy that he met on the bus. The one that was giving him a couple digits at a time. They finally hooked up and it was amazing. Only problem is that he's Catholic. Stevie sighs and nods in agreement that Catholics are a lost cause. After they've spent all Stevies' tip money, they get back on the bus. Sam gets off at Western and Stevie rides the bus all the way downtown and gets off at Broadway and 6th.

Chapter 9

All the downtown crazies are passed out. The super crazies are still up but having conversations with themselves. Stevie gets up with enough time to shit, shower and shave. He's out the door at 6:10 and on the bus, ass in seat, by 6:17.

The television in the corner is busted and the video is just a bunch of streaks that change color every so often. It's simple to understand that the TV is broken and Stevie's brain doesn't have to think too much. It's easy for the morning, even if it is broken. Strands of colors. The television goes to snow for nano-seconds then back to streaks. The bus hits all the stops and everyone piles on and settles in.

The bus hisses and pops down Wilshire. The masses are still half asleep as they move down the boulevard.

Stevie scribbles in his notebook. He's found a resort hotel that's bank owned and on sale for a dirt cheap price. If he can just gather up $350,000 bucks, he's in business. That's just to secure the loan. Where is he going to get the money? He might just take up the ex-Scientologist on robbing the Celebrity Center. It's a bad idea, upset Scientologists are worse than the cops. Maybe someday when his cult is on par with L. Ron's empire, then he'll do it just to ruffle some feathers. But on a serious note, he needs to find the Achilles heel of Scientology and take all the converts to Stevieland. He scribbles and doodles all these ideas down.

Ruth gets on at Wilmer and sits next to Stevie. She sighs, puts her hand on his leg and tells him of three more converts over the past week. Stevie takes the names and numbers and puts them in his notebook. He gives Ruth a stock of pamphlets and a couple manifestos to edit into Spanish.

The bus slowly moves through traffic. Something has happened up ahead. The mass of people inside the bus can sense the lack of motion. The mass stirs and wipes its eyes. It looks out the window at the flashing lights and shiny fire engines. Someones hit a motorcyclist. The bus drags by the scene and when it reaches the bottleneck, several cars honk. Somebody is covered up with a yellow tarp. It picks up speed immediately and burns a little rubber out onto the open road.

Stevie and Ruth make it to work on time and clock in at 7:00 am. Work sucks.

Stevie takes the bus to Hollywood after work to pass out some fliers in front of the Hollywood/Highland complex. He's among all the costume freaks and tourist and after a while gets discouraged. It's ridiculous, there's nothing but strung out street kids here. He makes a note to hand out fliers on Rodeo drive. Rich kids with trust funds, that's what he needs.

Chapter 8

The morning alarm goes off. It's 5:30 am and Stevie hits the snooze button until 6:00. Some converts have crawled into bed with the Messiah, or so they were told last night, and he is finding it difficult to get up with so many bodies in bed. He tries to gently unwrap limbs and glide over bodies but the converts, two pretty little Latinas, start to pull and kiss and thrust their pussies about. He's trapped in an orgy and now someones taken off his shorts and is giving him a blow job. The other Latina is now a blur of flesh and titties. She swings a leg over Stevie and rubs her pussy in his face. He starts to kiss it. Hands in odd places with limbs flying through the air. The blankets have been thrown on the floor.

A mass of tits and ass and cock and then Stevie cums. The girls jockey for his sperm. One of them grabs his cock and pushes it into her pussy. She fucks with rigor and makes him cum again.

The girls flop down on the bed and talk about having a cigarette. Stevie rolls off the bed and gets dressed. No time for a shower today, he'll just have to walk around smelling like sex all day. Something to remind him of the sweet two girls he just met. Didn't that cool French guy in 'Killing Zoe' say something to the effect of it's good to smell like sex.?

Stevie looks at the clock on the microwave on the way out. It's 6:45. He's never going to make it to work on time.

He's down on the street in no time and the bus flys by him as he makes his way to the stop. He runs a block to catch it. The door closes on his ass and the driver punches it. Stevie pays and finds a seat in the back section. A lot of people. The subway stops are packed and the people come in through all the doors, swarming the bus. It seems to hit every red light. This bus is taking forever to get down Wilshire today. It's too full now. The driver seems to finally realize this and now stops short of all the stops and only lets passengers off. Sometimes he doesn't stop at all if no ones dinged the ringer.

Stevie makes it to work at 7:30. Work sucks. The bus ride home is unmemorable.

Chapter 7

Stevie gets on the bus. How did he get to the bus stop? He doesn't remember much about last night after the tequilla shots. He doesn't remember much about this morning either. He steps inside and grabs the rail, pauses to one hand his $1.25 into the money eater and turns to walk down the aisle. He waits for the bus to jerk away first. It's always that first jerk that gets you. Looking down the aisle, there are plenty of seats, five people run past, flash their passes and then run down the aisle and grab all the good seats. He tries to get to one of the last seats in the front section but is beaten out by a small Latina with a baby & stroller. She takes up the whole two seats. Putting her baby stuff on the open seat beside her, and stuffing the stroller to the wall. Stevie looks defeated, but manages to sneak a manifesto into her stroller and stands next to the first exit door.

AC gets on at the Western stop and makes his way over to Stevie. They laugh and joke as AC reminds Stevie what happened the night before. They get to work in a flash and get off the bus.

Work sucks.

On the bus ride home there is a woman screaming about Jesus and asking bus patrons sitting in the immediate area first if they speak English or Spanish. Then she chants a little bit and says some prayers in your language of choice. She won't shut up. She screams and talks in tongue until she gets off at Alvarado, which is way down the road. Sometime she'll cover her face with her scarf as if hiding from a demon. She gets up around Highland to do a little dance, but slips in what could have been the middle of the dance and almost falls down. She steadies herself and sits down; damn drunken morality pusher. Drunk on something.

The bus patrons breath a sigh of relief at Alvarado. She's gone and Stevie laughs to himself. He knows that public preaching is useless these days. People need pamphlets and golden paper with contracts and promises. The bus pulls away from the stop and Stevie watches the woman point and yell at people and collect her things. The bus takes Stevie home.

Chapter 6

The bus arrives moments after Stevie gets to the bus stop. Its fate. He's on in a flash and gets a window seat. It's fun. Today is different, it's the weekend. There isn't a work vibe. It's fun.

The television in the corner is on. Its got a commercial for a romance novella on it. Then a Latino TV piece of somebody interviewing the hottest Ranchero band. They're huge. Then some magic tricks and animals made out of fruits and other foods. There are two TVs in the bus. Stevie is sitting a couple feet from the one in the front of the bus and has to crane his neck up to see whats on. Now there are 30 second tid bits of news, information and entertainment.

The bus soars in the middle lane down Wilshire. K-town flashes by in a blur of Hanguel and now the bus stops across the street from the Wiltern. The Rolling Stones are coming soon. The bus skirts the southern edge of Hancock Park. The Masonic temple is for sale, there it goes. Large condominiums on the south side of the street and deluxe houses on the north.

The bus blasts into Beverly Hills. The T.V. is now showing Reuters and AP stories in a nice font on colorful screens. It makes reading the news fun.

Stevie dings the wire.

The bus driver looks back, he doesn't want to stop. Stevie dings the wire again. The bus driver pulls into the slow lane and hits the gas. The bus tears through Beverly Hills. Past the Ferrari shop, past the Lamborghini shop, past the Lotus shop and right past Rodeo drive and the Beverly Wilshire hotel. The bus slows and stops at little Santa Monica and no sooner than Stevies back leg clears the door, it slams and the bus takes back off; engines roaring, catching the green light.

Stevie waits for the signal and then walks down the street to The Baron. It's 7am, he clocks in. The Kuwaiti Royals have left. The Bollywood star with two thumbs is gone, too. Work sucks. He takes his normal bus back home.

Chapter 5

The bus is not coming today. A crowd is huddled around the artsy bus stop. The cryptic message on the LED screen offers no help.


KZRZRTVNN__34

People just stand there waiting. Stevie shows up around 6:17 am and a large amount of people are there. An unusual amount is waiting. Stevie stands there and waits, too. He falls asleep standing up.

A woman with a bag brushes into Stevie and wakes him up. There are even more people now. He checks for his money and his phone and then moves out of the crowd.
He sees the Metro 728 going down Spring. He runs for it. Its about a half block away and others are running for it now. He makes it while some of the others aren't so lucky. The 728 isn't that full and Stevie pays his $1.25 and makes his way to a seat. It travels down Spring until it hits Olympic and takes it west. Stevie stares out the window. All that running to catch the bus has got his blood pumping. There will be no sleeping on the bus this morning.

Stevie takes out a notepad and doodles and writes a couple tag lines for his pamphlets and edits the monthly newsletter and doodles some more. HE looks out the window. Olympic has less potholes than Wilshire, and Stevie subconsciously loves it. The metro rapid 728 hisses and pops down Olympic. It's an Olympic size bus down Olympic Boulevard. If only Stevie was that massive in size; metaphorically. He's just a misunderstood cult leader wit a sizable amount of converts; 53 as of yesterday. He needs to plan an outing. Sam, Ruth and AC are his captains and they deserve a day out at Magic Mountain or something. Maybe they'll take mushrooms at Disneyland or something bonding like that.

Who's he kidding? Nobody has any time or money these days. Only the ex-scientologist hang out and smoke dope all day. He'll have to just buy that school bus and load everyone on and break free. Ride out into the desert and start Stevieland.

He starts to crunch some numbers. He needs 20% and can get good financing using a converts credit score and signature. He just needs 20%, but that's a lot more than he has anyway. Maybe he can just rent a bus or bribe one of these guys, these metro bus drivers. The silver streak goes out to the San Gabriel Valley, that could be an idea. He'll have to do some research. He scribble these ideas down. The bus stops a quarter mile from The Baron.

He walks fast down the street to work. It sucks. He takes his normal bus back home.

Chapter 4

The 5:30 alarm goes off.

Stevies bed is nice and warm.

He hits the snooze button on his phone and snuggle right back up to his pillow. A couple of coverts that never went to sleep are making tea.
"Come on Stevie, get up." Megan coos
"Someones got to pay the bills, Stevie." Janet comes over with some hot tea and rubs Stevies back.

He looks at his phone, it's 5:33. He glances about the Warehouse space. Its spotless. These new converts are great company but total meth junkies. As long as he can keep the meth coming, they're friends for life. He gets up and gets dressed and is out at the bus stop with a packed lunch from the girls within minutes. The bus arrives a moment later and Stevie shuffles on, pays and finds a seat in the front section. The bus is just as warm and inviting as his bed. This driver really has the heater cranked up before dawn.

It's so early. Nobody is on the bus. He could have stayed in bed for at least another fifteen minutes. It's retarded early. Stevie settles in. It's so early there is no one at the stops so the bus continues through a curtain of green lights.

Green, bummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Green, Pssssssssssssssssssssssssssss


Green lights and the bus reaches a comfortable hum and stays in motion from Downtown to Beverly Hills, only stopping once at Western Blvd.

A quiet ride only broken by the T.V. mumbling in the background and various mechanical noises. He can barely stay awake to make sure he makes his stop. He dings the line after Beverly. The bus driver looks in one of his mirrors down the aisle. Stevie gets up and makes his way to the door. He drops off a couple more pamphlets on the seats across from the door.

The bus stops. Stevie gets off. Work sucks.

After work Stevie, Sam, AC are contemplating a movie for later that night but nobody can commit to anything so they have a drink at the hotel bar and go they're separate ways