Susan catches the bus into town at ten-thirty a.m. she on the back seat. she looks at The man in front's head and thinks how his fat wrinkled neck is like a carrot Sticking out from the of his shirt. she adds up the numbers on her bus ticket to See if they make twenty-one, but don't. maybe she shouldn't bother going to school at All, then. her friends will be in the yard with arms folded on their chests, Shielding their breasts to try and make them look bigger, whilst the boys be too busy Playing football to notice. the bus is waiting on the high when suddenly it begins To rain torrentially and it sounds like someone has emptied about a million of Dried on top of the roof of the bus. 'what if it just keeps raining,' she to herself, 'and it was just like being in an aquarium except it was all the Shoppers and office-workers that were floating passed the window instead of ' She's still thinking about this when the bus goes passed caroline lee's where there Was a party last week. there were some german exchange students there who were Mature; they all ended up jumping out of the bedroom window. one of them to get her To him on the stairs, so she kicked him. later she was sick because she drunk too Much cider. was drunk as well; she was pretending she was married to a tall boy In glasses, and she had to a polo-neck for three days afterwards to cover up the Love-bite on her neck. by now the bus is passed the market. outside is a man who all day forcing felt-tip pens into people's hands and then trying to make them pay For them. she used to work in the pet shop, but she got sacked for talking to when She was supposed to be working. she wasn't too bothered though, she the smell of the Rabbits anyway. 'maybe this bus stop,' she thinks, 'and I'll stay on It until I'm old enough to go into pubs on my own. or it could drive me to a where People with black hair special brew and I can make lots of money by charging fat old Men five pounds a time to look up my skirt. oh, they'll be up to take me out to Dinner...' I suppose you think just a silly girl with stupid ideas, but i Remember her in those days. they talk people with a fire within and all that stuff, Well, she had that alright. it's just that no-one dared to jump into her fire; they been consumed. instead, they put her in a corner and let her heat up the room, Warming their hands and backsides in front of her, and slagging her off around town. No-one really got inside susan, and, and, she always ended up getting off the bus at The and then walking home.