Summary

The narrator of the story boards a bus in Sacramento, California and immediately senses that she is on the wrong bus. While she had taken the time to confirm with at least a half dozen people at the station if the bus she was about to board was the express to San Francisco, she still feels that she had made a terrible mistake. Despite her fears, she boards the bus and chooses a seat near the driver, thinking it to be the safest place. Almost immediately after she sits down, a tall black man boards the bus, grows angry and tells her that she is occupying his seat.

The woman is startled by his reaction, mutters a brief apology for taking his spot and chooses another seat two rows back. As she settles into her new seat, she observes that the...