Hello again, and welcome to "The Gutless Wonder Story Hour", with your host, Don the Monkeyman.

Today's story is a tale of woe. This tale, continued from yesterday's story, revolves around a young man. This young man has a problem: He believes that a mutual attraction exists between himself and a girl, a girl who rides his morning bus. His problem is that he has a hard time approaching her. Our story begins in the home of our young man, where he is frantically finishing his preparations for work...

Don hurriedly tied his tie. As he fumbled with the knot, he ran through a mental checklist of the things he had needed to accomplish that morning.

Shower? Check.
Shave? Check.
Brush teeth? Check.
Mouthwash? Check.
Change kitty litter? Check.
Feed fish? Check.
Make a lunch? Check.

He finished tying the tie, and quickly threw on his suit jacket. Grabbing his overcoat and satchel, he hurried out the bedroom door, closing it behind him. Don took a quick detour into the kitchen to grab his lunch from the fridge, then hurriedly tied his shoes and grabbed the plastic bags which held the cat waste. As he rushed out the door, he glanced qucikly at his watch. 7:28. This would be close...

After passing through the back gate, Don tossed the bags into the metal garbage can. Turning quickly, he walked down the alley while buttoning his suit jacket and wrapping his overcoat around him to ward off the cold.

Reaching the bus stop, Don glanced nervously at his watch again. 7:30. There was nobody else at the stop, and Don feared that he might have missed the Perfect Bus after all. That would not do.

After the urging he had received from his friends the night before, Don was pumped. He was prepared to take the first step, and talk to the REALLY cute girl.

After waiting another minute, Don was worried that he HAD missed the Perfect Bus after all. A moment later, though, his fears were dispelled, as a low-floor bus bearing the sign "Route 106" came around the corner. It was far too early to be the Other Bus.

As the bus pulled up to the stop, Don noticed that it was full of people standing up again. He felt both relieved and disappointed at this; relieved because it gave him a little more time, but disappointed because-- well, it gave him a little more time.

As the bus went along its way, the day progressed much like the previous day. After a time, Don was able to see that the REALLY cute girl was standing a few people back from him. Again, there were too many people in between to even hope to start a conversation.

Don began to anticipate the clearing of people from the bus. Something went wrong, though. For whatever reason, people did not get off at the first school on the route. NOT A SINGLE ONE. This was unusual in the extreme, and did not bode well. When the bus arrived at the second school, people got off as usual, but not enough. The REALLY cute girl got a seat, but Don was trapped by a press of people, too far forward to initiate a conversation. At some point, Don caught a glimpse of her face, and saw a look there that he thought he had seen once or twice before: a sullen look, or perhaps disappointed. It was not a look that made Don happy.

The bus continued on its route, finally arriving at the main stop downtown. By this time, despair had set in. Don knew that now there was a good chance that he could get a seat near the REALLY cute girl, but with only one stop left before he had to get off, he decided that it would not make sense to try and start up a conversation here. Instead, he took a seat in the front half of the bus. When he pulled the cord to indicate his stop, he realized that he would walk right past her as he exited the back doors of the bus. He decided to leave by these doors anyway.

As he rose to get off the bus, he looked again at the REALLY cute girl. She was not looking at him, and she still had that somewhat sullen look on her face. She was gathering her belongings, presumably in preparation to disembark at the next stop.

Don looked down at his feet as he waited for the doors to open. When they did, he got off the bus and walked away.

This concludes another episode of "The Gutless Wonder Story Hour". Please join us tomorrow when we hope to have the opportunity to change the name of the program. Until then, good day, and God bless.

Don "In character?" Monkey