It was storming the night I met her.  I had just lost my job and my girlfriend and to top it all off, in the middle of the storm, my car came to a jarring grinding halt with smoke pouring from the hood.  The nearest bus stop was three kilometers away and I never was clever enough to keep an umbrella in my car.

I hadn’t been at the bus stop long when she showed up.  There was no glass enclosed shelter, just a bench.  She sat down beside me and smiled shrugging her shoulders against the cold and the stranger next to her.  The rain hadn’t let up and she was as soaked as I was.  The first thing I noticed about her was that she was cute.  The funny thing was that in the dark and the rain, I couldn’t really see much what she looked like, but when gave that shy smile I just knew it.  She sat on the bench poised, like an athlete waiting to be called into the game.

“It sure is wet huh,” I said.  For the life of me I had no idea what else to say.

“Is that really the best you can come up with?”

I laughed, “yeah, it is.”

We talked as the rain beat down.  Well I talked, she listened.  She was a good listener; the only time she interjected was to make a funny or sarcastic comment.  After I ran down my life’s story, including the miserable events leading up to the bus stop, she looked at me still smiling and said “you think you had a bad day?  Today I broke a nail, lost my wallet and this rain has ruined my new outfit and a ridiculously expensive hair treatment.  Plus that cop isn’t going to be happy when he wakes up.”

It was a very tense few seconds as she left me hanging on that last comment.

“Oh, I had you going,” she choked out thought the laughter, “I had a great day.”

“What about the cop,” I asked.

“I’m sure he is fine.”  She left me without anything good to say for the second time that night.

“Hey, I am not as innocent as I may seem,” she said with another coy smile.

“I am sure of that.”

“You don’t even know the half of it.”

“I think you are one of the most interesting people I have ever met,” I replied.

“Go on, say more nice things about me,” she said.

“Well from what I can tell you seem nice and funny and you certainly are a great listener,” I answered.

With the rain still falling and the girl still smiling a faint light grew in the distance.  The light brightened and split until I could see it was the headlights of the bus finally making its stop, I stood up instinctively.

As the lights quickly came towards us there was a loud bang.  I stumbled backwards and tumbled over the bench, the headlights that were facing the street were now aimed directly at me.  I lifted my head to and tried to scramble to my feet, the bus barreled down on me screeching and shooting sparks from where its tire blew.  I looked over to where I thought the girl might be but she was nowhere in sight.  She sure was interesting, was the only stupid thought going through my head.  I heard a crunch and a grunt of effort, and managed to get to my feet to see the girl holding back the bus.

“I told you I am not as innocent as I may seem,” she said as she smiled at me one last time.  As suddenly as she had saved my life, she was gone.  She dashed away into the storm and the night.  I haven’t seen her since then, and I never did get her name, but she sure was interesting.