The sound moved closer as the herd of chattering girls—all clearly just beginning the great adventure of college life—made its way to the back of the bus. Incomprehensible chatter pierced by “Oh my god!” and a burst of laughter. Not the sweet, seductive laughter of an intelligent and beautiful woman over a cocktail. The giggles of girls, whose immaturity and clannish behavior overwhelms any sense of intrigue that they might have acquired.

In truth, they numbered only about ten. One after the other settled into her seat, with the last few scrambling to find somewhere close enough to the rest of the group not to be left alone, in a row by herself, or somehow separated by one of the three strange men who were quietly riding toward downtown from the north.

The bus continued to barrel southward down High Street, taking its passengers away from the campus of The Ohio State University and into the Short North, an artsy district sometimes described as “middle America meets Greenwich Village.”

“This place is so big.”

“I just hope there's a good place to watch movies.”

“There has to be lots of fun stuff to do around here.”

“How am I supposed to get any studying done?”

“There's a place!” exclaimed a pretty blonde girl with wide eyes, excitedly pointing out the window.

All eyes shifted focus, through the window and on to a small two-story building with the first floor clearly designed for retailing: a large picture-frame window designed to allow the retailer to lure customers into the store.

In the window sat a wooden chair, and in the chair sat a girl in her mid-twenties, with black hair to her shoulders, dark eyes, and deep red lips. She wore only a black bra and panties, dark stockings with garters, and black heels. She turned her attention away from the passing bus and toward another girl in the window, a fair-skinned redhead, standing in her matching bra and panty set.

“Oh my god!”

“I could never do that.”

“I think it would be hot.”

“Would you guys ever go to a place like that?”

“To see other girls? No way.”

“I would totally go!”

“Maybe to see what it's like.”

“They can make good money.”

“My parents would kill me.”

“How would they ever find out? They're a thousand miles away!”

“We should go there sometime.”

“You can not tell my boyfriend!”

“He would probably pay for us all to go!”

Another burst of laughter. That would have been enough entertainment for one trip downtown, but then it took a turn for the worse.

A man in his late thirties was sitting toward the back, all by himself, before being surrounded by the herd of girls. I could just see it starting to happen but there was nothing I could do. He said that he would go in there to see her. What's left to do but cringe? My inner monologue observed, “Smooth move. Just how many phone numbers do you usually manage to get that way?”

“Um, yeah,” was all the response she could manage as she blushed. More laughter.

Another jumped to her feet, hitting the strip of yellow plastic that runs over the windows. “Stop requested!” announced the synthesized female voice. The bus was quickly brought to a stop and the girls filed out of the bus, taking with them all of the noise that they brought in.

The remaining passengers exchanged looks in silence. No one seemed to have any idea what to make of what just happened.

Must be fall quarter again.