Transfer: A Six Sentence Story

When I left Kansas City, where I grew up, to attend college in a city over 150 miles away, I left behind my sweet friend Meri, who was two years younger than I was; she and I became close friends during my senior year in high school, and before I left for college after a summer of probably too much fun, she promised to come visit me. It took until spring before the right combination of schedules that coincided and Meri's mom agreeing to allow her to ride a Greyhound bus by herself occurred, but finally, the weekend had come that Meri would come to Springfield.

Meri's mom took her to the bus station on a Friday afternoon and put her on a bus headed south; she was to ride it until she got to Joplin, where she would transfer to an eastbound bus and arrive in Springfield around 10:00 that night. I was anxiously awaiting her arrival, but not long before it was time to go to the bus station to pick her up, I got a phone call, and on the line was a sobbing Meri.

"I'm in F-f-f-f-fort S-s-s-s-smith, Arkans-s-s-sas!" she sobbed, "I f-f-f-f-fell as-s-s-sleep and m-m-m-missed my tr-tr-transfer!"

I swear I DID NOT LAUGH at any of this, or at least, not until she safely arrived in Springfield, more than 12 hours later, and I've forgotten how Meri and I spent that (shortened) weekend, but I will never forget her story of waking up in a bus station hundreds of miles beyond where she should have changed buses, then, thanks to the kindness of ticket agents and bus drivers along the way, returned to the original transfer point (successfully changing buses this time) and on to her original destination - me! 

Linking up with Ivy at Uncharted for Six Sentence Stories with the prompt "transfer".