I'm a blind teenager girl, but I am ashamed of it if it is known.  I refuse to use a white stick and hate asking for help, and I couldn't bear people to look at me and think I am not like them.  I must be a terrible danger on the roads. Coming across me wandering through the traffic, motorists probably would have to step rapidly on their brakes. Apart from that, there are all sorts of disasters that used to occur on the way to and from work. One evening, I got off the bus about halfway home where I had to change buses, and as usual I ran into something.  "I'm awfully sorry," I said and stepped forward only to run into it again. When it happened a third time, I realized I had been apologizing to a lamppost.  This was just one of the stupid things that constantly happened to me. So I carried on and found the bus stop, which was a request stop, where the bus wouldn't stop unless passengers wanted to get on or off.  No one else was there and I had to try to guess if the bus had arrived. Generally in this situation, because I hated showing I was blind by asking for help, I tried to guess at the sound.  Sometimes I would stop a big lorry and stand there feeling stupid as it drew away. In the end, I usually managed to swallow my pride and ask someone at the stop for help. But on this particular evening no one joined me at the stop; it seemed that everyone had suddenly decided not to travel by bus.  Of course I heard plenty of buses pass, or I thought I did.  But because I had given up stopping them for fear of making a fool of myself, I let them all go by.  I stood there alone for half an hour without stopping one.  Then I gave up.  I decided to walk on to the next stop. What was the problem with guessing at the sound to stop a bus?
All cars have exactly the same sound. No bus would stop to pick up a blind girl. Some lorries may have the same sound as that of the bus. It took long for the girl to recognize the sound of a bus.