Carter didn't have a bus pass, so Mary dug around in her bag for change.

He watched her for a moment. Then, he opened his wallet and took out a hundred-dollar bill.

"Will this cover my fare?" he asked.

Mary gasped. "Are you nuts? Why are you carrying that much money around with you!" She shoved the bill back inside his wallet. Her hand touched his briefly.

"Ouch!" she cried, dropping the wallet and the money.

"Are you all right?" Carter asked.

Mary examined her hand. She felt like she had touched metal that had been sitting in the sun all day. It had burned for a split second.

"Yeah. I think you just shocked me or something."

"I am sorry.” He looked really concerned. And he didn't pay any attention to his wallet on the ground or the hundred-dollar bill starting to flutter away.

Mary picked up the cash and wallet and handed them back to him. "No, it's all right. A day pass is six bucks. Do you have anything smaller?"

Carefully, Carter took the wallet and money without touching her. He stowed the hundred dollars and took out a ten instead.

"That's better." Mary showed him how to put his money into the machine. It spat out his ticket and change.

Carter looked at the ticket and money in his hands. "Thank you. I am...not familiar with this."

"Don't mention it," she said.

When they boarded the bus, they sat across the aisle from each other. Mary watched Carter as they moved. He looked out the window, studying everything with quiet fascination. Mary hadn't noticed before, but Carter cleaned up well. His thick hair was combed and a little shiny. He must’ve been wearing some kind of cologne because even at the end of the day, he smelled clean.

Mary had to admit it. Carter actually looked kinda handsome.

Electronic gunshots caught his attention. Carter turned to the kid in the next seat, who had his nose buried in a mobile game.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Theft," the boy answered without looking up.

"Theft?" he repeated. "Isn't theft wrong?"

"Yeah, but this is just the game.”

Carter looked at the tiny screen. "You are making the image of that man shoot and kill other people?"

The boy nodded.

Carter looked surprised. More like shocked. "Why?"

The boy shrugged. "It's a game."

Carter thought for a moment. "I thought games were for fun."

"This is."

"Causing harm to people is fun?"

The boy looked at him at last. "Stupid, of course not. But this is just a game. Not like I'm out there really doing it."

Carter thought again. "So, it's okay to pretend to cause harm to people?"

"You don't hear any laws against it, d'ya?" the boy asked.

Carter looked at Mary. "I don't understand."

Mary shrugged. Mary wasn’t a gamer, but to each his own, she thought.

Carter looked over the boy's shoulder at the game again. The boy rolled his eyes and pressed the button to let the driver know he wanted to get off. He took his game and mumbled "freak" as he left.

Carter looked at Mary as the bus started moving again.

“I offended him, didn't I?"

"He'll get over it."

Carter looked forward again. "That is why I am concerned."