Starlings

I arrive at the Ballyshannon bus stop after an almost three hour ride. The scenery was expected along the way - rolling green meadows dotted with cream colored sheep with tiny black faces, some shorn, some still woolly; homes that are lavish with well tended gardens, some ramshackle and abandoned years ago with no roof or grasses growing through every broken stone. After a quick lunch, lugging my two backpacks and a small handbag up a steep street, I trudge back to the bus stop, certain I will get an Uber to my final destination, the Airbnb in Abbey. I wait and I see a group of young teens begin to gather, like starlings. A few gather outside, stand on railings, talk so I can’t hear their conversations. A short while later, they move as a group, flock across the street to get snacks, orange colored drinks in plastic bottles, and snack food in wrappers. A boy rips open his item and drops a piece of the wrapper on the ground as they walk up the ramp to go inside the bus station. And then nothing for a long while. I am busy trying for Uber unsuccessfully. I go inside the bus station and there they all are: lined up on the floor, maybe six of them, in coats, not typical school uniforms I have seen many times already here and in Galway. I am an intruder. “Is there a restroom?”, I ask. A girl at the end of the line on the floor, so pretty with black hair, an open face, comes to my rescue. “No, I don’t think so,” she tells me kindly. “There is one at Centra, down the street.” I turn and go back outside, so thankful for her helpful guidance, and that I didn’t’ disturb the rest of the starlings in their conversations in the only private place they can find in a small town in County Donegal.