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PASSAGE 1 TV Shows and Long Bus Trips Long bus rides are like televisions shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end---with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. Buy Super Clean Toothpaste. Drink Goodn Wet Root Beer. Fill up with Pacific Gas. Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of You Need It! Buy It Now! The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if youve traveled that way before. Usually some things have changed---new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road. The bus driver has a style of driving and its fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless or daring, the ride can be as thrilling as a suspense story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left-hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But youve got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops. The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon be over and theres a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat of course, has become harder as the hours have passed. By now youve sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the arm rests---even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at no more ways to sit. | 
