Synopsis
Jacki and Keith strike up a conversation while waiting for a bus at Bolton Interchange. A bus that ends up being delayed longer than they anticipated.
Jacki is travelling to her parents’ home for Sunday lunch. She is listening to music on headphones and doesn’t particularly want to be disturbed. She is quite enjoying a few minutes of solitude. Her car is ‘off the road’, her job is taking its toll. Office Admin is not where she really wanted to be.
Keith doesn’t seem to care at all that he might be annoying Jacki. He is persistent and after a few moments Jacki does acknowledge him. Keith wants them to be ‘friends’ just for the time they’re waiting for the bus. Jacki, against her better judgement, eventually agrees.
Keith is undecided about where to go on his bus journey. He knows the routes and the timetables by heart but has been put in a ‘mither’ with the trouble he had buying new shoes. He knew what he wanted, navy blue brogues, but buying them proved rather traumatic and he hasn’t quite settled down yet.
He confides in Jacki that people sometimes don’t seem to understand him, think he’s a ‘wrong un’, but he isn’t, it’s just that sometimes he can’t say the words. He knows what he wants to say but things don’t come out right. He has to plan everything everyday just to get by. Jacki feels an empathy towards Keith and they begin to share their secrets and fears; things they would never have discovered if the bus had not been delayed.
Keith tells of his childhood and the things that happened in his Dad’s hardware shop. How his Dad took care of him and how happy he was there - and then his Dad died, suddenly, and things were never the same again. Jacki explains how her parents want her to be ‘settled’. Jacki’s younger sister is already married and has presented her parents with their first grandchild, a girl, who they dote on.
Keith displays characteristics of Asperger’s Syndrome, although this is never mentioned in the script. |
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