As we left Sacramento at 8am, the bus driver promised us—over the shrieks of a lovely pair of darling little boys—that noon would bring us to the comforts of Burger King. Joy. We got another reminder at 10 during our Stockton stop. And three more times before we eventually arrived at the orange and white building. It was located on the outer perimeter of a fast-food oasis, and BK must have been paying some handsome kickbacks as our bus lined up next to the other three in the parking lot. It was a wise investment as the bleary-eyed passengers looked neither right nor left, but proceeded dutifully from bus to door to line up.

And every bus afterward, spilled out the same stream of obedient consumers.

I no longer marvel over the statistics revealing an inordinate number of Americans believe than Saddam had something to do with 9-ll. (Speaking of, I notice his mug on the front pages, just in time to keep Bush’s approval ratings from the deepest part of the toilet—particularly among those who think he had something to do with 9-11.)

(of course, Marcel and I renounced our placement in the herd: we walked all the way over to circle K. They can’t assimilate us, no sir. And to rub their noses in it, we trotted our gatorade and clif bars right back to BK and ate them on their tables. We even had the audacity to use their bathrooms. Yeah, we sure showed them.)

Passing 24 hours on the Greyhound, on the 5. The fussy brat-boys we picked up in Sacramento take turns wailing. I suppose I should be thankful: at least we didn’t have to endure them all through the night. What is it about a 4-year-old clutching a half-eaten sucker and with a face contorted in a tantrum? It just brings out the hag in me (or maybe it’s just the fact I’ve been on the bus for over 24 hours).

On the window it says “Non-egress window, emergency instructions located next to the seats ahead.” So, being the conscientious passenger, I check out the seats ahead. They say the same thing. So do the windows all around us. I have this image of an emergency situation and everyone is groping forward to check the seats ahead for instructions, finding them at last in the first row and calmly moving back to their original seats to apply them.