National Geographic #25

A few days ago in Creative Writing, we perused an art exhibit, National Geographic's In Focus. It was my third or fourth time wandering through the exhibit. The photographs of sharp eyes and curious expressions of people long past draw me in. I am filled with an unsatisfiable curiosity for these people, immortalized in a moment.

I would like to write about photograph #25, Esther Bubley's 1943, Waiting Room, Greyhound Bus Terminal, New York City. The picture depicts a weary mother waiting for the bus on a wooden pew. There is a slumbering baby on her lap and a toddler at her side. The toddler is clutching her mother's purse and looking upward.

What is this mother waiting for? I should like to tell the story of the first trip she took, five years earlier. The first time she was proud, defiant, and young. She was going home to tell her parents she was determined to marry a man she loved, despite their objections. The first time, harsh words were said and she was sent away told never to come back as long as she loved the man. She married the man and never did return. Now, five years later, she is wiser and wearier. The man has left her. Her parents were right after all. There is no money. She needs to feed her children. There is no work, either. This is the 1940's, and she, a black, single mother, is in the most unfortunate of situations. Today she must swallow her pride and admit she was wrong. Today she is going home to beg for help from her parents. She has dressed her children-- and herself-- in their best clothes. She has practiced the scene a thousand times over in the mirror and still has no idea what to say. The bus is late, and so they wait. Her mind is heavy with thoughts of what is to come.