208 days ago
208 days ago
I had my return ticket for the Greyhound bus to get from Nashville to New York via a few stops and the journey would take around 24 hours. I was keen to get back to New York to have a good look around, although the mood had changed as it was only a few weeks after 9/11 (but that’s another story).
Arriving at the Greyhound Station early I found I had 6 hours to kill.
I decided to get something to eat and then call home. Keeping in touch during the Summer had started badly when my mobile phone with all my contact numbers decided not to work in the US, but I had eventually got through.
I spoke with my mum and told her my route plan home, giving her the Greyhound coach details, planned itinerary, and agreed to phone again when I got to New York before my flight home.
Still with ages to wait I was keen to get moving. Checking the departures board I noticed there was another coach going our way about to leave. I decided to see if my Greyhound ticket would be valid on the earlier coach, as I didn’t fancy hanging around for another 5 hours for nothing.
After finding that I could get the earlier coach because there was room, I turned back to find my travelling buddy missing and with me holding his ticket. I wasn’t about to leave him behind, but I definitely wanted to make this earlier coach so I ran out of the station and hunted him down.
Fortunately, I spotted him near the nearest off-licence/ liquor store and we made it back to board the coach before it pulled away. Next, we settled down to enjoy the long ride back to New York.
The journey back was uneventful, but by the time I got there I had no money left and my phone card was empty of credit. I didn’t bother with the phone call home reasoning that I would be there soon enough anyway. It would come as no surprise anyway if I forgot- even ET phoned home more than me.
We landed in London and caught the coach back to Manchester, and went our separate ways. I arrived home to be greeted by my overjoyed mother. It was a summer of many “firsts” for me; but I didn’t expect to tick the “be greeted by a parent who thought you were dead” box.
What I didn’t know was that as I got to New York and “forgot” to call home, there had been headline news in the UK. The lead story was about a nutjob on a Greyhound coach who had decided to attack the driver with a knife and managed to slit the driver’s throat.
The coach crashed killing 6 people and putting the rest into the hospital. They quoted the coach number and the fact that it had set off from Nashville. That was the coach I was meant to have been on. That was the coach my mum “knew” I was on. When I hadn’t called she feared the worst. Maybe that was the coach I was meant to have died on.
Apparently, that attack is the largest loss of life in history to occur on a Greyhound coach, and it made the news across the US as featured in these New York Times and CNN articles.
Do I feel lucky? A little. It’s weird to think of the “what if’s”.
Did I cheat death? I doubt it- I’m pretty sure he’ll win in the end!
