The man who fell asleep in bus

I felt sleepy and my eyes were slowly closing. I fell asleep.

An hour passed and I was awoken by the bus driver. "Wake up! You've fallen asleep." he said me. - "Where am I?" I asked. - "In Budapest." - I was very surprised:"What am I doing here?" - "I don't know" said the driver and asked me to get out of the bus. I got off very confused. My world has changed into a different one. I was lost in Budapest.

How much can the world change in a while or during a bus trip? A lot.

It was beautiful afternoon. The birds were singing and you could feel a horrible smell of flowers. Two people - a boy and a girl were walking in the park. The short, dark-haired girl, said:"I don't believe that one person can change the whole world..." - The boy answered: "Have you ever heard about chaos theory? The flap of butterfly wings in Brazil set off a tornado to Texas. Look here: Do you see this snail?" - "Yes" said the girl. In the middle of the footpath there was a snail trying to get into the grass. He picked the snail up and the boy said:"And now I'll put it into the grass. And right now" said boy "I have changed the whole world!" - "What a twisted thought..." said girl and continued talking with the boy.

But the boys words were true. He really changed the whole world because he saved a snail's life.

Two days later the same snail was trying to pass across the road.

At the same time the bus driver Josef was on his way to Prague.

In fact bus drivers runs and drive my life. Josef knows this fact so he decided to be bus driver.

It was usually day like every other day. Josef was talking with his girlfriend who sat on the first seat. "I want to buy a forest" he said "The wood is so rare now. I will be rich." - "You are mad. Only you can come up with such an idea like that."

Suddenly the driver hit the brakes and the bus ran into the side ditch and crashed into sign that had Prague written on it. "What idiot?!" said a man in bus. "What happened?" said someone else. Josef was surprised. "I saved a life of snail" he said seriously. His girlfriend started to laugh: "You saved a life of snail?"

At this moment Josef changed the whole world.

Three days later I was trapped in Budapest. I sat on a bench in Népliget and looked at the traffic on Könyes Kálman körut. Long yellow trams were slowly moving on the streets.

I called my sister:"I'm lost in Budapest. I asked the woman who sold tickets and she said, that all tickets to Prague or Czech or Slovak republic are sold out this week. Do you know any cheap hotel here?" My sister was in Budapest last summer so she said:"Er... Yes! Where are you?" - "In Népliget" - "So take the tram number 1 and get off in Népfürdo utca and then ring me back. OK?" - "OK" I said and looked at the tram's timetable.

A minute later an old yellow tram arrived. I get on it.

There was a big man in the tram. He was dressed in an expensive coat with fur on the ends of it. In one hand he held a big bag covered by cement. He looked at the ceiling of tram. Then he opened the bag and took a new light bulb. He changed the light bulb a new light bulb in the tram.

Then the man looked at me and said: "Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Parle-vous francais? Beszel Magyarul?" - "Nem!" I said immediately. "But..." I said after a minute of silence."Igen!" I was surprised. All my life I thought, that I can't speak Hungarian. And now I understood every word from this man and he spoke Hungarian. "A légpárnas hájom tele ván angolnákkal" I said silently.

It was strange feeling. Similar like having Babel-fish in your ear.

"Why can I speak Hungarian?" I asked him. "Because I want to speak with you" he said.

The most strangest fact was that the whole conversation was in Hungarian.

"You are from Prague, you aren't you?" he continued. "Yes I am" - "Prague is full of problems. Somebody is destroying her borders. Three welcome signs were smashed down. Prague is going to die. If more signs will be destroyed, Prague will fall a parts." - "Why are you telling me this?" I asked the man. "You are from Prague. You should know it." - "Just because of this?" - "Yes, just because of this."

The silence began. Some woman started to speak Hungarian, but I couldn't understand her. I tried to ask the man, but I couldn't remember how to speak Hungarian. The man got off at the next stop. I stayed in tram, that continued.

An hour before an young man woke up on a boat which was sailing on Dunai. He opened his eyes and saw a wonder. He saw a very big bridge which was being constructed. The missing part was one yard long. It looked like as if the first side of bridge was trying to kiss the other side. The man said: "I must be still in a dream." He was a member of the Sleepers' club. The Sleepers' club was an association of people, who sleep more than 10 hours a day. It has got dormitories in the whole world. Istvan, the man on the boat, was the founder of this club.

"Go left, then on the second cross right, then left and upstairs and now you are here." That was what my sister instructed me to do. I came there and stopped in front of the hotel.

"Wow!" I said. In fact the hotel was (WAIT A MINUTE BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING) squat! It was an old small factory with massive iron doors. On the doors were two signs:"The cheapest hotel in Budapest" and "The dormitory of sleepers club" and "Anarchy in cellophane". I knocked. The small window in large doors opened and a girl's voice asked me: "Password?" - "I don't know it." - "You have to guess it." I tried to guess three times but I failed always. Then Istvan, the man from a boat, came. He knocked. "Password?" asked the girl's voice. "I know where is my towel" said Istvan. The doors opened. "Come in" said Istvan and I entered. "What do you want?" he asked. "I want to stay overnight here. I am lost in Budapest and I want to return to Prague, but all tickets to Prague are sold out this week" - "You are a lucky man" said Istvan "I can sell you one. I wanted to visit Prague, but you need this ticket more than me" - "Thank you a lot" I said and bought the ticket. Than I returned back to Népliget.

It was 5 pm. I sat on my seat in bus. There were a lot of Hungarian students. And than came the man from the tram and sat beside me. "Can I have one question?" I asked diffidently. - "Yes of course" he said. "Who are you?" I asked and the man replied by the strange answer: "My name is Budapest".

The bus started. It ran trough the plains of Hungary and Dark woods of Vysočina.

It was dark outside. Everyone was sleeping only I couldn't sleep. I looked toward the dark. And suddenly I saw a shopping centre in Chodov. "We are in Prague!" I said happily. "We are in Prague"!

The bus arrived at Florenc bus station. I got off and looked around. There was every person from this story. The boy and girl who had talked about chaos theory were meeting Hungarians students. The big man from tram called Budapest disappeared with woman with strange stone on her head. And from the next bus the bus driver Josef got off. And also the snail was there under the third flower in a flower pot.

The world has changed. But my part of the world was back to normal. It was a great day for me...