D.O.P.-T. (yesterday)

When I got on the bus home on a cold morning, there was a fearful grinding noise emanating from the back and the driver was flouting the law talking urgently on a cellphone. He proceeded to speed and run red lights but when he had to stop at Wolfe Road it was all over - the thing jerked horribly a couple of times, stopped short of the bus stop, and died. He popped the cover on the engine and we huddled glumly, shivering and peering at the mass of tubes and the spinning belts while he tried again and again to restart it. There were spots of fluid on the road but no way to know how fresh they were. Fortunately we didn't have to wait for a wrecker - one of the ancient little buses eventually came toddling along pretending to be an express and we clambered aboard.

D.O.P.-T.

Maybe the birds around here have a thing about dark red cars. This morning I saw a female robin hopping about all over the hood and roof of someone else's.