“I hope that crazy woman does not come early today. Where is my bus tag?” Hilda was going through her purse, looking for her bus tag. Without it, she would not be able to get on the bus. “Found it!”

Hilda ran for her life, huffing and puffing. She could hear the bus coming from a distance, but she also saw a more extended line today at the bus stop, which gave her some mild relief. “Here she comes,” whispered one of the commuters.

“At least on Friday, she missed the bus,” chimed in another. The commuters who took the 6:30 a.m. detested Hilda. “I am not in the mood to deal with her shenanigans today.”

As soon as she got to the bus stop, the bus stopped. “Hey, everyone,” she greeted everyone in line. A unanimous sigh came from everyone, and no one greeted her back except for one person.

“Good people, it is rude to keep quiet when a fellow child of God greets. Hello Hilda,” the residential bus pastor calmly responded. They never saw eye to eye with Hilda, but he always greeted Hilda back. This pissed her off.

“I am in no way a child of your God. My parents are human and not some fictional character that was made up,” she shouted as she climbed onto the bus.

“Here we go again. Just tap your tag and sit down,” asserted the bus driver, visibly annoyed by Hilda. Hilda went to the back of the bus and sat down begrudgingly. She started playing a game on her phone, but as soon as the pastor stood up, she placed her phone in her purse to listen.

“We can learn from Eve that doing what God does not like will get us into trouble. We must follow his word in all the…..” The pastor stopped mid-sentence. Hilda was coming towards him.

“Really now?” interrupted Hilda, who stood beside the pastor.

“Shut up!” A random man from the front of the bus shouted. You could hear the annoyance in his voice.

“Why? So we can let this man lie to us. This wishy-washy business of the “Book of Life” is just garbage. You blame Eve for eating an apple and dooming us all, but what if she didn’t eat the apple? Would you people be here? I thought so”. She gave everyone the evil eye, returned to her seat and folded her arms. She was proud of herself.

“Whatever. I don’t have the energy to entertain the devil’s work,” claimed the pastor.

“So now I’m the devil? It’s funny how, a few minutes ago, you called me a child of God. Hypocrite”, she laughed and continued with her game. The pastor, fuming, also went to sit down. The bus was mostly hush conversations for the rest of the trip.

Hilda decided to go and buy Vetkoek before going to catch her second bus. As she was walking, an old man appeared in the alley and called out to her. The dingy alley had a mixture of smells ranging from ammonia to decaying rats. It was inhabitable, but the old man seemed comfortable there. “Young lady, come here.” Hilda looked at him and shook her head, but her curiosity pulled her towards him.

“Old man, how can I help you? You’re going to make me late for work.”

“I have something I want to give you”, said the old man. He was wearing murky overalls and a ripped hat. His lips were full of cracks, and his grey beard was so matted that a comb would break if you tried to run it through. He had shoes on, but they were wide open on the front. You could see calluses.

“You dirty old thing? What do you want to give me? Lice?” she said as she ran her eyes up and down the old man.

“No, I have a secret potion. It will make all your dreams come true. I know your deepest desires.”

“Okay. I’ve seen stuff like this in the movies, and it usually works. Tell me more.”

“You wish you had beautiful black hair like your sister, for one.”

Hilda jumped back. She was too stunned to speak. “Now, to get what you want, you must sacrifice.”

Her jaw dropped.