Everyone had piled onto the humongous bus and by quarter after eight, Michael was yelling, “Nothing’s too good for my workers!  We are going to hit every hotspot between here and the lake.  Every souvenir shop, landmark and alligator farm!” 

“Michael, I don’t think alligator farms have existed here for 30 years,” Phyllis said.

“Well you would know, Phyllis, you probably went there while you were on road trips as a young woman,” he said trying to come off as cool and collected.

“We’re the same age, Michael,” she replied with more than a tinge of irritation in her voice.

Michael continued to go on about the day’s agenda, but it was easy to ignore from where Pam, Karen and Jim were sitting.  They were in the second to last row, Jim and Karen in the two seats across the aisle from Pam.  Karen had said she wanted to get started knitting as soon as they got on the bus.  Pam pulled out a pair of needles and a ball of chunky pink and brown yarn.  “I thought this would match your winter coat,” she said.

Karen took them as she gave an enthusiastic ‘thank you.’  Pam told her to sit next to her for the first part, and then she could go back to sitting with Jim.  After Karen got settled, Pam pulled out her own needles and yarn and started to show her how to cast on.  Jim watched as the girls held triangles of yarn through their fingers.  He noticed how confident and patient Pam was and couldn’t help but feel a little jealous that she wasn’t sitting next to him, guiding his hands into the right places. 

Pam had been right; Karen picked it up very quickly.  She cast on with no problems, and within a couple of rows, she was knitting away without any help.  Pam pulled out the example rows she had done to teach Karen, and started to work on the sweater she’d been knitting for a week.  “Two peas in a pod,” Jim said, immediately regretting how stupid he must have sounded.  “Great.  Now I’m going to get stuck playing the license plate game with Michael,” he added.

Pam looked across the aisle and asked, “You want to learn?”

“To knit?  Absolutely,” he smiled.  Pam grabbed her work, made Jim move over one seat, and sat down next to him.

“I don’t have anymore needles, but you can practice on this,” she said holding up her halfway finished, blue sweater.  He nodded and leaned in as she started to show him the technique.  He watched her long fingers grab the yarn, her tiny wrist twist it around, and then flick the needle out from under the other.  She had been talking as she demonstrated, but he couldn’t hear a word she said.  He was so mesmerized by her movements he hadn’t noticed she had stopped and was saying, “Hello?  Anyone in there?”

He was quick to cover up the fact that he wasn’t listening.  “Whoa.  Show me that again, I didn’t get it.” 

Karen had stopped and was looking at him, shaking her head slowly back and forth.  “Come on, Halpert.  This isn’t that hard.”  She went right back to work.

Pam started to show him again, this time slower.  He made sure he paid attention to what she was saying so that Karen didn’t catch on.  “Okay?  Your turn,” Pam said as she handed the needles to him.

He held them just as he had been shown, and started to knit.  This time, Pam had leaned toward him, pressing her shoulder into his arm.  She would stop him every couple of stitches when he would make a tiny mistake, and with her hand on top of his, she would guide him.  It was getting loud on the bus due to a Dwight led sing-along of the ‘Friends’ theme song, and Karen was concentrating hard on her own work.  So when Jim kept making the same mistake over and over again, and Pam kept taking his hand to help him, she quietly said, “I’m beginning to think you’re doing that on purpose.”

“What?”  He innocently replied.  “This?”  He said as he made the same mistake, again.

She took his hand again, and steered the needle into the right spot.  She let her hand stay on his and slightly turned her head to look at him.  She was so close he could smell her hair, which was down and tucked behind her ears.  He had a subtle smile on that was almost imperceptible, but Pam saw it. She blushed a bit and let her hand fall back into her lap. 

“I’m beginning to see why teachers used to hit kids with rulers,” he said.  “You don’t want to make the same mistake twice when that’s your punishment.”

“Cute,” she said flatly, playfully narrowing her eyes at him.  “Keep going.  I expect you to finish this sweater for me before we get home.”  He let out a little ‘ha!’ and continued to knit.  He stopped making the little mistake he had been making and was doing a good job.  She leaned away from him and shifted her attention to Karen, who hadn’t looked up from her work.  Pam felt a little guilty for what just happened.  As small as it had been, Jim was flirting with her.  And in front of his girlfriend, for that matter.  She was over-analyzing the last few minutes again and again in her head when she heard a little ‘Shit’ come from her left.

“I did it again.  I wasn’t even thinking this time,” he said.   “Only I figured it out after I did the stitch.”

“So this one was for real, huh,” Pam said quietly as she took the work from him.  He gently nudged her as she took the stitch out and knitted the rest of the row.  He put out his hands with fingers twitching, indicating he wanted to do more, but she thought this was a good stopping point for him.  “How about you help Karen with hers for a while,” she paused as she looked over at Karen.  She turned her focus back to Jim and said under her breath, “you know, your girlfriend.” 

He cleared his throat at that last part and said, “Yeah, hey Karen, switch places with Pam, I want to watch you work.”  Karen reluctantly stopped what she was doing and obliged.  After they traded places, Karen proudly displayed her scarf to Pam.

“This goes really fast when you work with yarn this big,” Karen said. 

“I know how it is when you work and work and you don’t see results fast, so I thought that would be satisfying for you,” Pam replied.  “Just wait ‘til you start using smaller needles and yarn.”

Occasionally, Michael would make the bus driver pull over for some silly roadside attraction, but getting off the bus wasn’t mandatory, so each time, many stayed behind.  Jim decided to get out and stretch his legs.  The girls stayed where they were and continued at their craft.  Pam looked over at Karen’s scarf.  “Your tension is really good.” 

She must have startled Karen because she stopped what she was doing immediately and gave a pointed, “What?!” 

Pam was taken aback by her sharp tone.  “Your tension.   The …tension of your yarn.  It’s not too tight, it’s not too loose,” she paused.  “What did you think I meant?” 

Karen’s face softened.  “Oh, I don’t know.  I was in my own world for a minute there.” 

“Is everything ok?” 

“Yeah, I guess.  I think I need a real vacation.  I’ve been trying to get Jim to plan something for us, but he keeps dragging his feet.  Sometimes I don’t know why I even bother,” Karen quickly closed her lips and looked downward for a second before continuing.  “Probably shouldn’t be saying this to you.” 

“Why’s that?” Pam shrugged.  “Jim’s a guy.  Guys can be dumb.” 

“Fair enough,” she said, and went back to knitting. 

Pam was a bit confused, and just stared out the window, blinking.  She couldn’t help but think Jim and Karen weren’t going as strong as she thought.  She shook her head in order to bring herself back to reality, and followed Karen’s lead, and continued to knit. Jim had returned to his seat next to Karen and for the last half hour of the ride, alternated between trying to sleep and watching her knit.  Occasionally his eyes would travel across the aisle and rest upon Pam.  He watched her hands, noticing she moved with more grace and speed than Karen.   Pam could feel his eyes on her, and when she turned to look at him, he was completely lost in his thoughts, staring at her hands.  She stilled them, bringing him back to life.  He twitched a little and his gaze rose up to her face.  Unconsciously, she held her breath.  She let her eyelids fall, slightly, and gave a small tired smile.  He returned the gesture with the same exact expression, but his eyes faltered- looking downward, then back at her, then away, until he turned his head in the opposite direction to look out the window.  She turned her eyes to Karen, diligently working, and then back to her own needles.  She knitted the rest of the ride to the lake, without looking up.