Thought-Theatre: School Bus Ride

So it was sometime during either 2000 or 2001 - I don’t remember exactly. It was another school day, and a bunch of kids around my brother’s age (at the time, which was about 11 or 12), my brother, and I were gathered around the tree where we would line up our bags and wait for the bus. The line of bags was one of those ‘food chain’ things, where the closer you were to the front of the line the better you were; despite the fact we would all get on the bus with plenty of room to spare (we were the first stop). While we waited, we would usually play handball on the footpath. But this time when the bus turned up, we had a different bus driver. I don’t remember what he looked like, but I do think he had a grey beard/hair and possibly glasses. Much like the kids we were, this was an exciting new experience! So, we got on the bus with joy that day.

Now, like all new bus drivers, they have no idea where they are going. So, it was one of those things where the bus driver would ask the kids for directions to the other stops before school. There was this one kid who was on the bus who I knew fairly well - and by that I mean I had seen him on the bus for pretty much my whole school bus career. Anyway, I can’t remember his name or his appearance, but I think he was fairly olive-skinned and his hair was short and dark. He was one of the ‘clowns’ of the bus. I remember when we came to an intersection he said “You just keep going through here.”, then a car came and of course we had to give-way, but then he made the whole bus laugh by saying “Don’t worry about that car, just go straight through.”

Up ahead of that intersection was the stop of some weird anti-social kid who looked like he didn’t have any friends except for the members of the AV club. It’s pretty mean, but he didn’t reply to us when we tried to talk to him.

The only thing I remember of the rest of that bus trip was when that olive-skinned kid gave up and so I got to get int he front seat (another simple joy!) and tell him where to go. The rest is a bit of a blur.

I wonder if my brother remembers this as good as I do..?