I have had many strange experiences in my short time on this earth. Some were pleasant, others not so much. But one that stands out in my memory occurred just recently on a greyhound bound for Macon.

It was 6:00 am. I had to be a state and a half away by 4:00. I was hungry and not ready to be awake, but that bus was the best and the only option I had. I remember that the bus driver was the scariest part of the whole ordeal, as her sass could not be contained. But despite her oral brutality, the bus ride was fairly pleasant. The seats were comfy, there was free wifi, and I had two whole seats to myself. In all honesty, not much happened for the majority of those long two and a half hours. I slept most of the way and read for the remainder, but at about fifteen minutes away from Macon, someone plopped down in the seat next to me.

Now I had spoken to no one since I boarded, and was at that point very involved in my book. I turned around to see who had the audacity to disturb my peaceful ride when I was greeted with a broad, curious grin. I didn’t catch his name, but let’s just call him Paul. Now at first glance, someone like myself might be slightly scared of Paul. He was a big guy – had biceps the size of my head – and he had two full tattoo sleeves but was about two tattoos shy of a pant (if that’s a thing). His head was buzzed, and he wore a pair of white basketball shorts and a white tee with holes everywhere. And then there was me: a college freshman sitting in my khakis and cardigan reading the communist manifesto (among other things). He quickly shifted his attention away from me, which I admit put me more at ease, and for a few minutes he chatted up the folks sitting in front of me. Then he turned back to me.

“Whatcha readin’ there?” He asked

“It’s called the Tiananmen papers, and this one’s the communist manifesto.” I replied

“Huh, Tiananmen papers. What’s it about?”

“The 1989 Tiananmen square protests in Beijing”

“Aw cool, Man! Like was that some big to do?”

“Yeah, it actually played a huge role in how the world viewed China. They massacred their own people.”

“That’s horrible!” he replied, “If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s killers.” I remember at the time I thought this was an odd remark, but as I couldn’t disagree, I shook it off. We chatted for another ten minutes about Tiananmen, and why I was reading those books. I explained that it was for a research project, and he then proceeded to ask me if I was a student, to which I replied yes. We then went on to talk about what my major is and he went on for a good five minutes about what his plan was. He said his current field of study was computer science, but he was thinking about changing it and rambled off a long list of other majors that interest him, none of which I can remember, unfortunately. People around us listened and chimed in when they felt necessary. In response to the killers comment, one man to our right asked if we had heard about all the shootings in Savannah recently. Paul had, but I had not.

About five minutes before we rolled into the bus station, the driver got on the intercom and informed us of our approaching arrival. Paul listened intently to the information being spurted from the speaker, and as she finished, he turned to me and said

“I need to get back to my seat. Later, dawg”

Again, I thought this was a little odd, but I said goodbye back and proceeded to put away my books. As he walked back up the aisle to his seat, I looked up and saw that his shirt was not a simple plain white shirt. On the back scrawled in big black letters were the words GEORGIA D.O.C.

I have never met someone with such a childlike curiosity as Paul. He genuinely wanted to learn about everyone and everything. Now I’m not sure if that’s just his personality, or due to his time behind bars, or maybe I just caught him on a good day, but what I do know is that I wish I could be more like him. I wish I could have just one ounce of Paul’s enthusiasm and passion.

Later in the station, I overheard him talking to another man that was on the bus. They were acquaintances from prison and were catching up on how many transfers they’d each had since they last met. The other man was released a few days prior. Paul had been released the day before.

I wish Paul all the best.

-Nickel