Have they really lost their mind? I couldn't tell you, I've lost mine.

I've been stressed out because of the job issues, so I took a mini vacation to Boston and meandered around. Everything about being in the city calmed me. It was like I was inside of Grand Theft Auto, everything looks sort of familiar but completely interesting. I don't worry about getting lost, in fact it's what I attempt to do, because no matter where I go the T will bring me back to where I started. It's like there are teleportation devices around every corner with a save point and the option to go back to the main menu.

It's pronounced BWASTIN. I asked.

Boston was wonderful, but the bus rides back and forth were literal nightmares. Inbound, I sat in front of two children that could not speak to each other with inside voices. As I was trying to read my book, all I could hear was "I LOVE HAM SANDWICHES WITHOUT MAYONNAISE CAUSE MAYONNAISE IS GROSS!" and "JEFF GORDON SUCKS! OH YEAH HE SOO DOES SUCK!". Both of them were perpetually kicking my chair and playing really loud video games. This is all while not ONE but TWO people on the bus were whistling. The man in front of me would get going with the verse, while someone in the back of the bus would continue with the hook. I have a problem with whistling. It's practically a phobia for me. I say fuck whistling.

I can almost expect the ride to Boston to be a bit more obnoxious than the ride back to Manchester. Boston is a destination, Manchester is not. Excitement can occur, especially with kiddies on the ride, and it's the beginning of a day. The bus ride back is calm and reflective. It's later, so there are very few children if any and most people are relaxing. While this is all true about the inbound bus, it was a bit more molesty than I prefer my rides to be.

I had the good luck of sitting across the aisle from a young girl that appeared to be between the age of 11 to 13, and she was comfortably sitting next to an older man in his mid-thirties to early forties. A bit too comfortably, it seemed, but not completely weird. Little by little, I saw things that put red flags up in my Katie brain.


She placed her hand too far to the crotch area of his pants... they were playing footsie in a nonchalant sort of way... they began holding hands and sitting a little too close... she fell asleep on his arm and he would occasionally rub his forehead with hers and caress her arms... he kissed her several times, and not in a "daddy loves his baby" way... when he woke her up, he placed his hand on her upper thigh and rubbed it...

When the whole thing began, it seemed like it was possible that he was a father that was too affectionate to his daughter. I'm not sick and I don't tend to think things that are drastically untrue, but I needed conformation of my speculations. I waited until they had boarded off of the bus and asked the girl sitting behind me if she had seen what I had seen. She agreed and noted that she wasn't planning to say anything, but she would back me up 100%. We approached the bus driver together, who was perplexed by the situation and immediately asked me why I hadn't approached him 'discretely' during the ride in an almost accusatory way.

First of all, it's a scary thing for anyone to witness and I didn't know if I was the only person that saw it. Secondly, if it had stopped halfway through the ride I would have doubted that something was going on and possibly recanted. It's easy for an outside party to make a person think that they saw things that weren't really there.

The bus company called the police, who then grilled me. The cop had briefly interviewed them and he stated to me that they acted "normal" and asked me if anything really bad had been going on. Okay, if a cop approaches a child molester, and asks him if he was playing hide the penis with his daughter, the molester isn't going to say "Oh, hell ya, I've had that girl six ways to Sunday!"

I had told him the story exactly as it happened, and I never said they had sex or anything, but it was still wildly inappropriate. I'm pretty sure if they had been making out or screwing, the ride really would have ended without any comment from me.

What was I supposed to do, walk away and let the incident go? She is a child a few years from puberty, and even if his actions weren't outright illegal, they were certainly reprehensible and deserve to be scrutinized. I know the chances of charges or actual reprimand are small, but the point is that it's going to get attention. They told me that the mother was on her way, and hopefully this is going to make her pay attention to the comings and goings of their relationship. Even if he hasn't slept with the kid, he should be made aware that his affection toward her is inappropriate. If it had been a boy and a girl of the same age next to me, I would have been thinking 'I know who is totally getting laid at the end of this'.

So, yeah, my vacation was like a trip to Cancun on a bus ride meant for prison.