Image credit: Twitter Twemoji Image credit: Twitter Twemoji
Xavier and Bob both took a deep breath as they stepped off the bus.
“Ah!” Said Xavier, stepping forward and stretching his legs. “Nothing like some fresh air right at the start of our tour!”
“It smells like fuel and burning plastic out here,” said Bob.
“Isn’t it lovely?” Said Xavier. “That’s the unique smell of Benthamburoughton-upon-Oxfordshire!”
“Benthamburoughton-upon-Oxfordshire, Ontario,” said Bob with a sneer. “When you said you planned this, I thought you meant Benthamburoughton-upon-Oxfordshire, England.”
“Don’t worry bro, there’s all sorts of things to do here!” Said Xavier. He pulled out a book from his backpack titled 101.25 Things To Do In Benthamburoughton-upon-Oxfordshire, Ontario, No Seriously, Not the One in England. He opened the book to one of the several pages with a sticky note.
“The first thing on our itinerary,” said Xavier, “Is to look at the historic central bus terminal designed in 1967 by Alexei Ivanovich.”
Xavier smiled and faced the building on their left. But his smiled faded as he took in the surrounding corrugated steel, pigeon droppings and broken glass.
Xavier turned back to the bus and spoke to the driver. “Excuse me, is this the central station?”
The driver shook his head. “Bit of a detour, I’m afraid.”
This was written in 15 minutes during a Joy of Writing meetup.