Early morning bus stop observations #3243

Early morning bus stop observations #3243

1) Three strangers stand by the bus shelter watching the oncoming highway traffic:
A woman in a long dress and headscarf from a Hareidi town
A woman in a camisole and short shorts from an agricultural moshav
A modern Orthodox woman in a cap and denim skirt from a central Israeli city.

They notice one another standing at the bus stop, letting the regular Egged buses go by.

They glance at each other, join the dots.

"So are you also waiting for the Otef (Gaza border) volunteer bus?" one of them opens.

The others nod.

They smile, shake hands and introduce themselves. They embrace like old friends.

And a few minutes later, chatting away, they all get on the volunteer bus taking them to help the south.

2) A smartly dressed older woman with a savta (grandma) necklace.

She keeps looking anxiously at the passing buses.

Her phone rings. She informs the caller that she missed her bus by 3 minutes and now she's likely going to have to wait nearly an hour.

The conversation changes to something about the news.

"You know it isn't him."

"That's right, there's another Goldin, the one they retrieved isn't our Goldin, it's the other Goldin hostage, it's not Hadar."

"Yes, I know, I was hoping too."

3) A very young looking soldier with the faintest hint of stubble, a massive kitbag, a rifle that looks too big for him and very dirty boots.

He's talking on his phone:

"It's me sweetie, it's ME!!! Sweetie I'm on the way home!! Got lucky with a ride and I'm at the bus stop now. Two hours tops."