Bus Stop
by William Inge

In the middle of a howling snowstorm, a bus out of Kansas City pulls up at a cheerful roadside diner.

All roads are blocked, and four or five weary travelers are going to have to hole up until morning.

Cherie, a nightclub chanteuse in a sparkling gown and a seedy fur-trimmed jacket, is the passenger with most to worry about.

She’s been pursued, made love to and finally kidnapped by a 21-year-old cowboy with a ranch of his own and the romantic methods of an unusually headstrong bull.

The belligerent cowhand is right behind her, ready to sling her over his shoulder and carry her, alive and kicking, all the way to Montana.

Even as she’s ducking out from under his clumsy but confident embraces, and screeching at him fiercely to shut him up, she is inexplicably drawn to him.

As a counterpoint to the main romance, the proprietor of the cafe and the bus driver find time to develop a friendship of their own; a middle-age scholar comes to terms with himself; and a young girl who works in the cafe gets her first taste of romance.