Post #4128293

2026-07-24 20:32 UTC

#IHopeJohnRoberts 's Greyhound bus makes a long stop in Kansas City and he finally realizes he's going to Portland, Oregon and not Portland, Maine, and he feels really stupid both for his initial mistake and for not realizing it earlier, but also he's finally recovering from his intestinal problem and is super hungry, so he buys some spare ribs at a nearby barbecue joint filled with Black people near the bus station and oh my god it's so good he no longer even minds his accidental adventure and he stays there well after finishing his meal, just enjoying the music and watching people very unlike those he usually associates with but actually not so different, until the proprietor, a bald man with massive guns and wearing a pristine clean apron, very courteously explains that people are waiting for his table, and he apologizes and goes outside and stands on the sidewalk for a long while, savoring the sense of simply not giving any fucks at all about any of his usual concerns, and then he walks back to the bus station, confirms that his ticket will allow him to get on a later bus if he wants, fetches his small duffel bag and his paperback copy of "On The Road," and walks back out into the town, with no idea what he'll do next.

Replies (1)

@msbellows@c.im 2026-07-26 00:49

As he wanders around downtown Kansas City near the bus station, trying to remain anonymous and wondering what to do next, #IHopeJohnRoberts has trouble finding a motel or hotel that will accept him without showing ID or leaving a credit card and therefore creating a record that would lead to him being discovered and his adventure cut short, and when he finally does find one that will take cash without ID, the room smells funny and once he's inside and unpacking he realizes that in every hidden place, behind the curtains, on the shower rail, in the closet, under the bed, even tucked into the Gideon bible at John 3:16 like a bookmark for God's sake, the proprietor has hidden those little pine tree-shaped automotive air fresheners, which end up making the room reek like a forest had a baby with mothballs, and because he has no choice he stays there anyway but as he falls asleep tonight he wonders how long ago someone died in that room and how long it had taken before they were discovered and whether the owners had replaced the carpet and mattress or just cleaned them.

Open ##4128292