The Bus Incident

On Thursday morning it was apparent right away that something was amiss. 

We normally leave for the bus stop at 7:27am and the bus usually arrives between 7:34am and 7:35am.  On this day, we left about two minutes late and when we arrived at the bus stop it was 7:30am and the bus was already there.  Facing the wrong direction.  With a different driver.

Connor jumped out of the car and was one of the last kids to board and the bus pulled away.  I headed straight to the office with Palmer and didn't stay to see how many kids showed up only to find that the bus had come and gone.

It would be reasonable to think that's the end of the story, but that afternoon things took a turn.  Pun intended. From here, Connor tells the story:

"The driver picked us up and turned the wrong way on the big road (Claiborne Pkwy.).  He drove us to the top of the hill and then down into that neighborhood we go through when we go to football practice (The Villages at Waxpool).  When he made that first turn, Mom, kids were confused.  By the time we got down to that neighborhood, kids were screaming 'You're going the wrong way!  Its the wrong way!' "

"Then the driver turned around and headed back the right way and the kids got quiet again.   But then, Mom, he turned into the Nature Center.  Why would he do that?  Then 'cause its small in there he couldn't turn the bus around and he hit the Nature Center sign.  Then, Hayes started screaming  'We're going to juvy!  We're going to juvy!'  After that, every kid on the bus was screaming and yelling that we were all going to juvy.  Mom, it was the loudest place I've ever been in my life."

As he recounts the events, he is laughing hysterically.  I think some of those kids had the most exciting bus ride ever.  I can't imagine how the little ones felt, though.  They must have been horrified.

Connor's final words on the incident:

"It wasn't the driver's fault.  He was really really old."

and

"What's 'juvy'?"