One Among the Sleepless, a novel written and performed for podcast by Mike Bennett.

Episode 3.

This novel is intended for an adult audience.

Chapter 2 Dusty surveyed the high street through his vintage Ray-Ban Balarama sunglasses. Despite being a little

scratched here and there, they still reduce the glare of the morning sunshine to

a comfortable level.

Over the last few years, many comforts had abandoned him, but not the sunglasses.

He settled back against the bus shelter, enjoying the otherwise empty bench.

The other people at the bus stop seemed to prefer to stand.

Dusty didn't mind.

He wasn't waiting for a bus. He was just sitting, watching the world go by.

Contemplating life, and as he happened to be at a bus stop, buses in particular.

Brighton buses came in many different colours he had noticed, a different colour for the various

different routes.

He watched as a cream and red bus slid up against the curb in front of

him and opened its doors to disgorge some of its passengers onto the street.

As they disembarked there was not one among the passengers

who didn't check him out, usually a furtive glance, sometimes a longer look, either with or without an expression of disapproval. Dusty ignored

them. When the bus had taken on board its new passengers. It pulled away from the curb and eased back into the

traffic flow, leaving a stinking blue cloud of exhaust in its wake. Dusty fanned the toxic odor away from his face.

Foul! A woman who now stood at the front of the loosely defined cue glanced in his direction.

Dusty looked up at her.

...