Screenplay / Dennis, the Lowly Bus Driver CHAPTER 1

Dennis narrates.

DENNIS: In the days of the depression, there were only three professions that endured in those trying economic times; Doctors, police officers, and public transportation.

Which is to say, "Hey firefighters! Yeah, we love you and all, and thank you for your help in saving me and my children from a burning building, but when the going gets tough, we really don't need you that much."

Or, "Hey, mail deliverers. I know I'm expecting a letter from my son who's off fighting the war and all, but if that letter doesn't come, eh, It's nothing I'm going to die over."

So in essence, if you were a dentist, a lawyer, a plumber, a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker, all rolled into one, you still wouldn't be as prosperous as a bus operator during the depression. That even then when people were unemployed, they still needed a way to get from place to place. (That even in that age of similar circumstances, people had the nerve to say, "Get your black ass to the back of the bus!" But I digress.) It isn't that inconceivable to envision, seeing as how many homeless people there are riding buses, seemingly just to keep themselves busy nowadays.

Everything else could be going to hell... Rabid dogs could be on the loose, garbage could be lying out in the streets just piling up, and fires could be engulfing our homes, and all we could think to say was / be concerned with was, "Hey, somebody's breaking into my house! Stop them!" or, "I'm dying of pneumonia, somebody help me!" or, "When the hell is that bus gonna get here? I've been waiting for hours!"

I can tell some of you haughty taughty types (talking about some of you ladies)may be thinking, "I've never had to ride a bus in my life, and I don't plan to start now!" Okay, well what if you were unemployed. And your car broke down. What then? "I'd call my friends up and they'd give me a ride!" Well, what if you're ugly? That's right, you'd be taking the bus.

If there's ever been a strike of any profession, just think about the people it has affected. You probably wouldn't have even HEARD about the writer's strike if it weren't so integrated into the media. But when bus driver's go on strike? Everybody's affected. Every profession, every business has somebody in it that needs to take the bus. Which prompts NON-bus strikers to cry out, "HEY! Get your lazy asses out of bed and back in those f***in' buses where you belong, you pricks!"

Which is to say, that as bus drivers, we may not be as valued or appreciated as any other profession, but we certainly are needed a lot more than others. Which is sort of gratifying, in a way.

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