Appomattox Courthouse

Lynchburg Virginia, typing in the total pitch-black dark by the glare of my screen. My cptr was making plaintive strangling screaming noises rather like when you step on the cat if the cat was r2d2 I don't know why. Rolling along on through central Virginia in a nicely newer coach for a change with wifi and plugins that don't work, the plugins, but this little netbook has good long battery life.
When we got to DC this afternoon I immediately felt at home, the bus they put us on southbound was the worst one yet, seats broken off and dangling into the aisle, stench of portapotty like a blue haze you could almost see it, just like Greyhound used to be, enough of this prissy New England hoity commuter line, this here is America!!
Still, I had a seat to myself, that is had, until Charlottesville, and this nice pudgy young thing asked politely if I minded, which you can't hardly say NO, but lord she was such that to describe it would be wrong. I lasted about 30 seconds and bailed out as she sat there with all her bags on her lap challenging me to stay in my seat, Flannery Oconner would have been proud, especially when the Mom showed up, whining in that Southern entitlement womanhood way that just sets your teeth on edge. Her, I would have locked out in the rain and laughed myself to sleep, the daughter was scary the utter lump passivity, the sullen expectation that I would feel sorry for her and move, and I still can't bring myself to talk about the smell, I'm not saying emanating from her, coincidence is not causality etc.
But silver lining there's a very nice goodlooking espanol sort of young man in the seat ahead who kindly made room for me, nicely dressed , polite, wearing the biggest stainless steel wristwatch you ever saw, so all good things etc...
I understand from the signs along the way that we passed Appomattox Courthouse. Did stop for 2 minutes at the Lynchburg RR station. I think I remember reading about Stoneman's cavalry riding hell-bent down this valley. It seems so safe and ordinary now.