CHAPTER NINETY
2004- Two-Fare Zone
Two days later, my long-ass Greyhound trip back to where I belonged started at a truly scary bus terminal on Northwest 27th Street. That place was a special corner of hell—one that had me contemplating relapse for half a second.
Then it was a hot, smelly and bone-breaking twenty-nine-hour ride to Port Authority.
How I got through those twenty-nine hours dead-ass sober, what I did to keep myself from losing my mind, is not worth mentioning.
Once off the bus, I threw myself headlong into the 3am crowd, making a quick stop at Burger King to grab some large fries and a coke, then headed to the subway to start my two-fare zone journey[1].
Two trains and a bus. Heading towards an uncertain future.
[1] True two fare-zone travel (during which a commuter was required to pay fare at each connecting point) was eliminated in 1993, with the advent of the MetroCard, but the idiom has remained. It reflects any trip that requires both a subway and bus ride.
