One Giant Step

Did I ever tell you of a child I once knew 

Who had a great deal of spring in their step? 

Well, one day, they stomped on the ground, oh so hard, 

That they found themselves on the moon, imagine that?

Well, they sat there so long with feelings of unease

That they decided to snack, the moon is just cheese.

Afraid they would never, to earth, have a rescue

And finding no restaurant with any good barbecue,

They decided to eat and so they did, until one mighty sneeze.

That’s when it happened, a grand mighty fall.

It all happened so long and so fast,

That, off the earth, they bounced like a ball.

And so now, instead of the moon,

And this is the worst news of all,

They can be found on the planet of Neptune.

Blinking, a School Bus Kids story

So, this week, the children on my “not so ordinary” bus decided to start a new hobby.  Perhaps, hobby is not the correct word, but it’s the best that I have.  One day, I shall increase the vocabulary.  One day.  Anyway, they all decided to tell me about this hobby while we waited for the teachers to come out to the bus.  I wasn’t exactly sure what they were saying to me as they were all very exciting and talking over one another.  They were cute, and I tried to listen to their earnest, overlapping descriptions, but there it is.

It was fun watching them practice their new found hobby, though.  They were trying to disappear here, only to come up over there.  At first, it was only face scrunching, and then, it was a whole lot of face covering, all with the hoods on their hooded sweatshirts.  You could say that it was a touch of science fiction or “Bewitched;” no nose wiggling, though.  Of course, by accident, one of the students would manage to disappear, then reappear just a couple of steps from their original spot.  But no one could really figure it out.  And naturally, they would do this often while trying to exit the bus, and would tie up the whole departure sequence as they would make contact with an immoveable seat or get caught up in a fellow student’s book bag arm strap, though how student and another student’s book bag made contact was not so easily discerned.  And then, there was the incident on the steps of the bus when they tried to exit and the doors were still closed, and book bags, and….well, let’s just say that I, the bus driver, named the moment: The Great Tangle.  But I have been sworn to secrecy by all of the students about that moment.  Anything that you may learn about The Great Tangle could put your hair at jeopardy like, for instance, the “code name” of the incident.  Drat!  Okay, please do not use your hair conditioner for a little while, um…maybe a week.

But on Thursday, as the cool autumn wind and hot summer sun kept one student company at his stop, the child decided to combine both scrunch face and head cover techniques, at the same time.  To his astonishment, and the entire bus’s for that matter, as the bus door opened to swoop the kid up from his stop, he disappeared.  There was much gasping of surprise and delight to see the result.  Fortunately, he reappeared in time to climb onto the bus and make his way to a seat.  He was greeted in triumph; everyone patted him on the back.  And for the rest of the day, he became the sensei and taught his technique with a big toothy smile, which, of course, everyone faithfully copied with full dentition.

As they have progressed, quite nicely I must say, sound effects now accompany the phenomenon.  There is, what can only be, though I am told it is supposed to be a stretching sound, a prolonged “fart” noise, then a brief disappearance and then, a reappearance with a sharp “pop.”  Though I am saddened by the prospect that there may no longer be a need for the “Nuther World” button, I am positive that with perseverance and a whole lot of practice, of which there is plenty, these kids will “blinking” around the whole “blinking” universe in no time.

Gone! Was All It Said

So, I came home.  It was nice.  It was beautiful.  Not like the day before, all cold and wet.  Yes, I came home, and found a mystery.  I discovered it.  I found the debris in the Forest of Milky Trees, and in life and deed.  “Gone!” Was all it said, the headlines, in big bold lettering.  Gone, no goodbye or any hint as to what direction to take.  No hint, even after a long and thorough search of high and low.  The only evidence left behind was simple, the shattered remains of what once was, nothing more.  I wonder yet just how simple.  Now, there was hints, maybe allegations, a figure at a construction site, a new school.  Trying to improve one’s self?  So, a mystery revealed itself, unfolded, and everyone connected to the Forest of Milky Trees seemed steeped in the fog of it.  In kind, they started a rousing game of “Half Full/Half Empty,” all taking sides.  Everyone pointed at everyone.  After all, there was not much else to do.  All appropriate entities were called and on the job, but here we all sat.  So, they, the Milky Tree Forest fanatics, all took the clues to the mystery, and rolled.

Those who took the side of “Half Empty” surmised an abhorrent death, a brutal death at the hands of some predator, physical or metaphysical.  Perhaps instead, there was a sense of being frozen out, perhaps even, a giving up.  I guess the proverb of “those who live in glass houses, should not throw stones” may apply here, but, oh, to break the glass ceiling, what a glorious moment!  Even if, or maybe especially because that ceiling is of two minds, may be someone else’s glass floor.

To those of us who took the side of “Half Full,” it was a triumph of self-realization, a coming to grips with what does it take to know one’s self.  To place yourself into reflection and meditation, to reconcile all the contradictions, to proudly come out of the Chrysalis, TA DA!, Faaabuuulousss!  To embrace what makes you unique, show the world your true self, all the while still standing tall and secure; so, brave.  What an amazing achievement.  And then you become so light, lifted out of the despair of self-doubt, to fly above the others, to fly above it all.  Freedom.

Of course, there are those who simply say that missing visitor just stayed long enough to sock some money away, then took the first flight outta here, right off to somewhere quiet, where he can simply be with others that looked and thought the way he did.  Breath away from enemies.  They envisioned some naughty little resort high on a hill with lots of trees where they could all gather and party all their troubles and cares away, delirium.  They’ll just say the deeply concern visitor went on a holiday to Mexico or South America, for a long winter’s getaway.

Then, there are others who simply say, “SHE.”  And then they walk off on their merry way.

Gone! Was all it said, and all it took.  Is the mystery solved?  No clue, but have a turn anyway.  Go ahead, we give you full permission.  Go on, nose in and give a poke.  You really don’t need to know the fact.  Half Full/Half Empty, it’s your turn.  Take it.  We insist.

The Great Fold, a School Bus Kids story - reedited from first post

So, it has begun, the new school year.  We are officially a full 11 days into the year.  This is the year of big changes for us in the school district, and it’s all thanks to the new cube of basic education (because it’s elementary, my dear Dr. Watson).  I have to say, this is going to be an exciting year; at least, I am trying to convince myself that it will be exciting instead of fearful.  I mean changes, new school, one regular AM/PM route.  Even my noon route is different.  The little four-year-olds that I haul are very quiet; I can, at times, forget that they are even there…until, of course, they get to school.  Oh, don’t worry, I still have a bus that is not like any other bus in the fleet.  I know this because I have talked to the other bus drivers, but at this point, they leave the conversation very quickly, shaking their heads and rubbing their brows, even my bosses, who seem to want to hide when I appear in the office door.  I really don’t know why.  Maybe, I should ask.

Well, anyway, this past week, things are a little dodgy.  Yes, every scary.  You see, Mother Nature decided to throw a nasty wind our direction.  This one day on the route, the wind was so harsh that I struggled to stay on the road with my bus.  Believe me, when you encounter some of today’s farm equipment on the road and you fight with your steering wheel, it can be very scary.  It was decided, on the bus, that we should hoist some sails in order to stay safe, and so we did.  It helped a little, but then someone suggested that we extend the wings, and all went okay from there.  It did make it a bit tough for the other vehicles on the road to get by us, but we stayed on the road, and somehow, so did everyone else around us.

All was fine until I got to this one stop, Grammy and Grampee’s house.  My little rider got on, and promptly had to tell me of his concern about the wind.  Grammy told me that he had been very worried the entire time he had been at her house.  In fact, he was in a slight tizzy over the situation.  So, in order to ease this poor child’s mind, I told him that we hoisted sails and set wings to help as both things are wind related items.  He seemed cautious; so I then told the child about a button that has helped in many situations.  The button I refer to is the beach ball button.  It’s a great tool; push the button and a giant beach surrounds the bus.  If you hit something, you simply bounce off of it.  Okay, you might get a bit dizzy as sometimes the bus gets stuck in a tight spin inside the beach ball, but there are no bumps or bruises if you stay in your seat.  He seemed fine with that and boarded the bus, and so, we went on our merry way.

Then, we turn around to get back on to the main road, and that’s where the struggle began.  As I backed into a field road, the bus rocked toward its side, causing the bus to list.  This happened a couple of times in the process of getting turned around (tiny road, you know).  My little passenger started to get scared again; in fact, everyone was getting nervous.  And yes, when I said everyone, that also included me.  There was a couple of times that I thought we were all going to be need a change of clothes.  It got to a point that we decided that we needed to drop our sails to keep from tipping over on our side.  So, we went about the bus to drop sails.  

In the process, the wind blew at us, and pushed the bus sideways, as we were perpendicular to Grammy and Grampee’s road.  The wind seemed happy to have the bus sideways in the road, for it seemed to make it easier for the wind to push the bus.  And we found ourselves inching our way over to a place that I had not noticed before in all the driving throughout the school district, until now.  We got so close to the edge that I was able to look down into the bottom of a mighty and dark drop off; at least, I think it was the bottom as you really couldn’t see anything, except maybe a little trickle of water.  Everyone was screaming.  Even though, I hate the sensation of falling, I stayed calm remembering “The Beach Ball button” was only a fingertip away, because my bus is different than any of the other buses in the fleet.  Everyone kept on trying to tug on ropes and let the sails hit the floor.  Finally, we got our sails down, and we managed to get turned around toward the main road.  Only a few “smallish” clumps of dirt fell into the darkness before we moved, but there was no need of button pushing this time.  Back on the main road, we hoisted sails and breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally, at school, as we waited for the teachers, I had to ask the one student about that drop off, and very quickly, I was awash in all the excitement that 4 small children could muster.  It was very difficult to determine through the conversation of one, held simultaneously by 4 exuberant children, just what it was that I was being told, but this is what I think it was:

We were near the Edge of the World, which can also be called the Great Fold.  The walls of the Great Fold are so steep that even the sun stays far away from the edge, to keep from falling in, because it is a bottomless pit.  And if you do fall in, you are dunked into a darkness where you can’t see your hands, like when they turn off the lights on the Crystal Cave tour.  In fact, I think that you might actually be in Crystal Cave if you fall down into the bottom.  Oh wait, there is no bottom at all.  Oh, and at the bottom, there is a creek where gold fish that glow like stars swim.  Incidentally, this Great Fold is just upstream from the Bouncey, or as I believe, it has also been  called the Bumpy, Bridge, and yes, there was mention of gold fish when we bounced across the bridge to get away from the Forest of Angry Trees.  Some times, the Great Fold gets hungry and simply sucks things into its mouth, like when Grampee lost his tractor.  Apparently, the Great Fold gets hungry for iron once in a while.  I told the kids that I preferred spinach over tractor for iron, which illicited the response, “Ew, yuck!”  Oh, and on the other side of the Edge  of the World, there is another place called Reverse World, and that is why you don’t get to stars and the moon.  I asked them what Reverse World was, and they told me that was the place you go to on Backwards Day.  I thought the other side would be a “Nuther World” and I showed the kids the bus’s “Nuther World” button.  All I got was the “are you kidding me” stares.  One child told me that The Edge of the World was the scary place between today and tomorrow, the place where the future lives, while another child mentioned that it was the place between today and yesterday where ghosts live.  

But then, the teacher came out to collect the little darlings off the bus, and it was as if nothing happened on our way to school for the day.  I know that one day that beach ball button will come in handy; I’ll just have to wait for the right moment.