Teaser of "The Programmer and The Pianist" (working title)

 The day was unusally calm for mid-September in the Rocky Mountains, but she would not complain. Serena Michaels was bound and determined to make it home at least once during these crazy pandemic times. She had her bus ticket in hand, and made her way from the office, where she had the most wonderful chat with the kind ticket agent, to the platform where the great steel beasts were parked awaiting their passengers.

The compartments underneath Bus 1023 were open, and the driver was guiding passengers to place their suitcases according to their seat assignments. Since Serena had requested the very back row, she quickly moved to the farthest compartment, stowed her single suitcase, and then moved toward the door. She would keep her backpack with her since her entire life and career were stowed safely in the padded compartment. Her laptop. She never let it out of her sight.

Looking back quickly to remember the compartment number, R4, she walked toward the front of the bus and climbed the steps. One, two, three, four. She liked to count things and used that information to build imaginary maps of her life. The mental repository was quite large for someone so young, but Serena had already seen many things at 25. And, as far as she knew, she had many more to come.

She made her way to the very back of the bus and sat down to get arranged for the journey. The back seat of the bus was perfect because she could sit and watch everyone without the uneasy feeling of someone behind her. The location also afforded her one of the best views out the side windows. One of her favorite things to do on rides was watching the landscape fly by and make up stories about the things she saw.