Reprovingeyes lingered on his half-dressed state as he stepped up. He
stumbled, gropingfor the crack in the synthetic leather
that would guide him as usual. It wasmore crowded than usual but he didn’t take note. The vindictive light stillburning his dilated pupils, he dropped his eyelids to barely a slit. This crueltorment was tame in contrast to the onslaught of the odour that besieged hisnostrils on point of entry. Fora while he had not known the source but the airborne acrid tang had driven himto madness and for days he had rummaged deliriously. When he found it herealized how obvious it had been. Lying in the pouch directly in front of himwas the device. The cruel propellant meant to overpower the less harmfultobacco scent spread its brutal tentacles through the air. Setin motion it only got worse. The flimsy straps on his waist couldn’t preventhim from sliding back and forth at every turn. First he was flung violentlyleft, squashing his companions to half the size. Then it was his turn to beslammed into the door. Hefelt the wheeled menace slowing to a stop, then the door to his left flappedopen. He felt himself being pushed into the others. He sensed the presence of anew elbow in his side before the door slammed shut and the engine revved. As heturned to identify the intruder he quickly
realized his mistake: eye contact. Beforehe could turn away he heard the sounds. Toneless at first before the pitch was raisedat the end. He knew in an instant what it was: a question. By far the mostunwelcome sound at this time. A greeting could be answered with a grunt, but aquestion required real articulation. Heknew what to do to contain the situation. His answer was gruntish butdistinctly in the negative. It did the trick and he went back to gazing blanklyat the floor. Eternitypassed before he felt the jabbing in his ribs ease up. He sat, enjoying thesolitude for a while before he realized he was alone. He looked up. The driverclearly wanted to move on. He knew the drill and followed it precisely. Hegroped his way to the exit and
stumbled out. Ashe staggered onwards his widening eyes rested on the wording engraved above theentranceway: Nil Nisi Optimum*. It could only get worse.*nothing but the best (Latin motto)