W D Bundy

The Bus Bench W D Bundy

Edna Rollins is adopted at age six by her aunt Lilly who raises her in a sheltered environment creating a young lady that is socially naïve' and unworldly. Lilly's shunning of men exacerbates Edna's beliefs, one of which is that only married girls have babies. Lilly's declining health and refusal to seek medical care eventually brings about her demise which happens on Edna's high school graduation night. Edna returns to find Lilly has passed which plunges her into a state of panic and utter confusion. She seeks the solace of her next door neighbor Loretta Hoffman whose long term marriage is in shambles but who helps Edna grasp the reality of her situation. Edna shares with Loretta that Lilly has left her a box, the contents of which she has yet to see. Betraying Lilly's instructions that she only open the box in the presence of her best friend Maude, Edna opens the box in Loretta's presence. The stunning contents are relics from one of Lilly's escapades with a man who was a thief. Sometime later, Edna encounters Loretta's husband Art as she exits the grocers. Art directs her to an area behind the stores where he terrorizes her and rapes her leaving her in a state of hysterics and disillusionment. The weeks following, finds her recovering, but nine months later she is dumbstruck when she gives birth to a baby boy. Her shrieks and cries for help elicit the response of Loretta next door who is fully aware of Edna's naivety'. Edna rejects the baby completely, refusing to nurse or even hold the child. After some inquiries as to Edna's pregnancy, Loretta learns that the child was fathered by her husband Art. Loretta leaves Edna for a short while to confront Art about his newfound fatherhood. Call it woman's intuition or instinct but Loretta senses something terribly wrong as she rushes back to Edna's and the baby. She finds that Edna is attempting to drown her newborn. Loretta takes control of the baby who is then remanded to the care of socia