“One-sixty-six leaving Simmons with seven,” Vladimir mumbles into his walkie-talkie. And off the shuttle goes.

Boom! Speed bump.

Boom! Another speed bump.

KABOOM!

All the girls jump as the spare tire in the trunk falls back to the floor of the shuttle. This isn’t just an ordinary shuttle. This is the special red van. It is the only transportation the NU girls living at Simmons College have to campus. The shuttle has become a place where the girls have gotten to know each other. They can catch up with someone they haven’t seen in a while or have a quick conversation with someone new. They never know what conversation they’ll be subjected to listening to in the confined space.

The van pulls up to a stoplight and it falls silent except for one conversation, which everyone can hear. “There are some things I don’t understand,” a brown-haired girl tells her friend. Her friend replies, “Like pink hair?”

“Exactly. Like pink hair,” her friend agrees.

Suddenly the van fills with conversation. “Did you have class this morning?” one girl asks the girl sitting next to her. A RA makes a general statement to the van, “The woman in the public safety station is my new best friend. She thinks I’m a doctor.”

The shuttle gets the green light and it zooms off towards campus. twnty feet later, the van screams to a halt at a yellow light. A general groan comes from the girls. Someone mumbles, “This is, like, the longest light ever.” The girls become silent. Many start checking their watches. The RA looks out the window and questions, “Aren’t squirrels supposed to be hibernating?” No one answers. After five minutes, a green light comes. With the speed of the van, the conversation picks up again. Two girls start talking on their cell phones.

The van makes a left turn onto Hemenway Street. A guy yells out his window, “Nice! Nice! Just cut me off!” A chuckle rises from the girls. “Don’t we have the right away?” the brown-haired girl asks Vladimir.

Finally the shuttle reaches the first stop, Stetson East. As it waits for a few minutes, the sound of snoring comes from the drivers seat. The girls look at each other and smirk. Is the driver sleeping?

Static comes over the walkie talkie and Vladimir jerks awake. The van leaves Stetson and dawdles across Huntington to the second stop.

As the van pulls into the Forsyth circle, it stops to let hundreds of students file past in the crosswalk. After a few minutes of waiting, the girls are getting impatient. They can’t get out of the van until it pulls into the stop, but it can’t get to the stop unless the students let it pass the crosswalk. At this point, the girls are going to be late to class if the students don’t let the van pass. A girl says to Vladimir, “Ten points for every person you hit!” The RA adds, “100 points if you hit that girl in the yellow jacket!” Someone in the back row of seats yells, “You don’t have to run them over. Just nudge them a bit.” In the midst of all the students in the crosswalk, an old man with a cane shuffles in front of the van. He stops, smiles, and waves at the girls. A roar of giggles fills the van. Finally people are stopping to let the van drive forward. All seven girls tumble out, thanking Vladimir on their way.

“One-sixty-six leaving Forsythe with 0,” Vladimir mumbles into his walkie-talkie.

-Lisa Kaczke is a middler English and journalism major.