The Bus

When I woke up that morning I was not in my bed, I was still in my seat on the school bus. I stayed up late the night before reading under my covers and did not get a lot of sleep. When I got on the bus that morning I was so tired that I fell asleep after I took my seat. I drifted into a deep sleep and did not stir when the bus stopped at my school. I got on the bus at 7:30 a.m. to be at school by 8:00; I didn't come around until almost 10 that morning.

When I finally woke up, the bus was very quiet and very empty and I was all the way in the back. I was scared. I didn't understand what had happened or how I possibly could have slept through my stop with a bus full of noisy kids or why the bus driver didn't check the bus. This was small town Kansas; our bus driver knew each kid that rode her bus and exercised her sense of personal responsibility over us every time we boarded.

I got up and walked slowly to the front of the bus. The bus driver looked in her rear view and nearly jumped out of her seat.

"What are you doing on the bus?" she yelled at me.

I stopped dead in my tracks, my mouth hanging open and my eyes bulging at their sockets. "I dunno know, I guess I feel asleep," I stammered.

"Fell asleep! Fell asleep?" her voice rising an octave each time she asked me. "Do you know how much trouble you are going to get me in? And what about you? Do you have any idea how much trouble you're going to be in?" she asked.

Trouble? I hadn't thought about that, after all I just fell asleep, I wasn't doing anything wrong technically.

"Well, can you just call my mom and take me back to school?" I asked.

By now, I had slid into the front seat with one leg planted firmly in the isle in case I had to make a run for it. "No, I cannot just call your mom and take you back to school," she said to me in a condescending tone. "I have to radio my supervisor first and then we'll call your mom and she can come and take you back to school."

The driver was angry with me and I didn't understand why. This upset me very much and I started to cry.

"Oh no, don't you start crying," she said and then her face fell and she looked at me sympathetically. "I'm sorry, I guess I was a little hard on you. You just scared me to death, I thought I had an empty bus. It's OK, stop crying now, everything will be alright," she said. Her tone had softened. She handed me her Kleenex box so I could wipe my eyes nose.

I wiped my nose and blubbered back, "I'm sorry. I was just tired. I didn't mean to fall asleep." I started to cry a little harder then. I was really tired and hungry. Plus, I didn't know how my mom was going to react.

"It's OK, stop crying now. We'll get this straightened out," she told me. "But I'm going to keep my eye on you from now on and you'll be moving to the front of the bus starting tomorrow."

I nodded my head in agreement and slowly started to settle down and stop crying.

Before the driver could radio her supervisor, his voice came over the airwaves, startling both of us.

"Hey Susie, you got a little girl by the name of Sonya Simpkins on your bus?" he asked. "Her mom just called. The school called her and said Sonya didn't shown up to school. She's real worried."

"Hi Hank, yeah, I got her," she said. "What do you want me to do? Bring her down to the bus barn or take her over to her school?"

"You got her?" he asked. "Well, what happened? Why isn't she in school? Her mom has been calling up here every 10 minutes! Why didn't you call this in?" He was beginning to yell and we could tell he was annoyed.

"Calm down Hank," Susie said. "She fell asleep in her seat in the back of the bus, I didn't see her or know she was here. She just walked up to me a few minutes ago. Now, what do you want me to do?" Susie fired back, not appreciating being yelled at.

"Take her to school. I'll call her mom back and tell her you're taking her to school. Have Sonya call her mother when she gets there. And then come straight to the bus barn when you're done," said Hank.

By now, Susie and I were a block away from my school and I saw my mom's car parked out front. My face fell again and I started to cry thinking I was going to be in big trouble when I saw my mom.

Susie saw me crying. "Why are you crying honey? It's OK, you're back at school, unharmed. Everything worked out just fine."

"My mom is here and I know she's gonna be mad at me for missing school and causing her to worry. Can you drop me off at the side door?" I pleaded.

"No. Your mama might be a little mad but more than anything, she's going to be happy to see you and know that you are alright. You probably scared her a little. Just explain what happened and make sure you get to bed early tonight, " she told me.

"OK, I guess so," I said, not entirely convinced.

My mom was waiting for the bus at its stop and when I got off she just hugged and kissed me telling me over and over again how happy she was that I was safe. Then she grabbed me by the shoulders and asked me what happened. I said I stayed up reading and fell asleep. She laughed and told me that I couldn't do that anymore and we walked into my school.

The next morning, I moved to the front of the bus. I still nodded off from time to time, but I never missed my stop again.