True stories from childhood - Vol. 5, "The Bus"

Passenger safety wasn't much of a concern when I was a child. We never wore seat belts. We always played games and made faces at other drivers while in the back of the station wagon. I even remember, as a high school student, convincing my father to let me ride in the trunk of his Lincoln Towncar while coming back from a restaurant.

My oldest child, Hannah, is a kindergarten student right now. When I was in kindergarten, I rode the bus to school. My busdriver's name was Rudy. He was an older man who seemed to have a grandfather's soul. All the kids loved him.

To this day, school busses don't have seatbelts. As if that wasn't dangerous enough, Rudy found a way to make our travel even more treacherous (which made us love him even more).

To the left of the busdriver's seat, just under his window, was a heating vent that came out about 8 inches from the wall of the bus. At the request of the children, Rudy let us take turns sitting on that vent on our way to school. It was a perch of prestige. Every kindergarten student waited in eager anticipation of their turn to sit on that vent in the front of the bus.

Rudy would tell us one day ahead of time when it was our turn. I was excited when my turn came. When Rudy stopped at my house to pick me up, I ran on to the bus. He picked me up and placed me on that vent and away we went. What a great ride. My head was in the clouds. Awesome way to start the day.

I got off the bus feeling like a hero that day and went to Mrs. Durso's class feeling like nothing could go wrong. That was until lunch time, when it dawned on me......"I left my lunch box on the bus with Rudy!"

To be continued..........