My daughter rides the bus to the Deaf School. To it each morning and home each afternoon.
Our school district has two buses that go to the Deaf School. That is not because there are too many kids to fit onto one of the big yellow buses. There are, altogether, not even enough kids to half fill one bus. It is because our township is shaped something like a cigar on it’s side. It runs all the way from the east side of town to the west side of town, but not very far from north to south.
They used to have one bus for the entire district.
But that meant that some of the kids would be riding and riding and riding- and getting home long past when their bladders were ready to get home.
So, now, there are two buses, one for the east side and one for the west, and Sarah gets home at a reasonable time.
Except that, she didn’t’, today.
Tonight starts a Jewish holy day. Not just Shabbat , but also the holiday of Sukkot- and she has to be home and showered and dressed and ready before sundown.
And the bus is late.
She finally gets home 1 hour late.
Okay, only 55 minutes late, but it felt like an hour.
And she tells me why….
There are about 10 students who ride this big yellow bus. Some are like Sarah, they get on and off the bus by themselves. A few do not. They are either very young and ride in car seats and their parents have to get them on and off the bus, or they have disabilities that mean their parents get them on and off the bus. They don’t just go racing up and down the bus steps and in and out of their front doors.
So, the bus pulls to the end of a block and stops- it’s red lights flashing.
And it waits. And it waits, and it waits.
30 minutes go by, and no parent comes out of the grey sided house to get a child.
Eventually, another bus comes by , one from the high school- a late bus with students who have most likely stayed after for athletics.
Sarah’s bus driver motions for one of the students to come over to her bus. He asks the high school student to go to the house and knock.
The student does this. And waits.
Eventually, someone opens the door.
The student comes back to the bus and tells the bus driver that this family doesn’t have a son.
Of course, all of this is occurring in English, but Sarah is getting pretty good idea of what is going on.
The bus driver pulls the lever and folds the stop sign back to the side of the bus and turns off the red flashing lights.
And drives around a bit.
Finally, he pulls up to a house- a brick house, not all that far away- as I have been exaggerating. You see, he only had to drive about one more block, because he could then see……
An anxious father waiting by the street to get his child.
And then the bus resumes its route.
I ask Sarah the one, obvious question.
“Is this a new student?”
“No.”
This child has been riding the bus every day since school started in late August.
This is also the same bus driver.
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3 comments:
None of the kids noticed that they didn't recognize the house? None of them asked who was supposed to be getting off? The driver didn't speak to the kid he thought was getting off?
Oh.......never mind.
At first, the kids didnt' know why teh driver was stopped there.
The driver doesn't sign. None of the kids on the bus speak.
At least 4 of the kids knew it was not the boy's house. However, the boy's family rents and a couple of the kids move a lot. So that means less, in this case.
Of course, every time I argue that they need a bus driver who knows some sign language.....
also, the bus driver is impossible to speech read- he makesa chewing motion, when he talks. That si why Sarah understood teh HS girl and finally realizeed what was happening- she cd speechread her.
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