I looked out the window of the bus I was riding. I was in a city which at first I couldn't identify, but when I noticed the people seemed to be oriental (some women had long black ponytails) I concluded I was in Hong Kong. The bus even passed a bay and I could see buildings on the far shore. I thought that must be mainland China.

When the bus traveled on, however, beyond the city into the country, I remembered where I really was: I was heading from Portsmouth, Ohio to Cincinnati. In Cincinnati I planned to catch a plane to Europe.

I recalled more details now. I had been living in Portsmouth for a few months, and I simply hadn't been able to stand it any longer. I had to get out of there. I reflected that I seemed to have a need to occasionally travel to Europe. On the spur of the moment, without any planning, I had simply decided to fly to Europe. I had simply boarded the bus and headed off.

I thought about my car, which I had parked in a parking garage in Cincinnati. I hoped it would be safe there. I would probably be gone for about a month, and I would have tickets when I returned. I thought I would pay the tickets with my American Express card. I hoped the card wouldn't be cancelled while I was in Europe. Maybe I should write American Express and tell them where I was living in Europe. Hopefully American Express wouldn't cancel the card simply because I was in Europe. Fortunately I also had a couple more credit cards.

Suddenly, however, I realized I wasn't thinking clearly: I hadn't parked the car in Cincinnati. I had left it on the street in Portsmouth. The car was a Cadillac, an older model with fins. I could clearly visualize it in my mind. I had left it sitting on Gallia Street in Portsmouth, close to downtown. When I looked out the window of the bus, I was surprised to see that we were passing through Portsmouth, on Gallia Street, right in the area where I had left the car. My father had an office on this same block on Gallia Street. We had passed the office and I regretted I hadn't looked up in time to see if anyone were in the office. But I did see my car. I hoped it would be alright there. My father would probably notice it and wonder what had happened to me.

As the bus turned at the corner of the street, we passed a Goodwill store on our right. I could see a number of paintings hung in the window. I looked to see if any were paint-by-number paintings. I would sometimes buy those at Goodwill. But I quickly turned my eyes away; I didn't have time for such foolishness now.