So, the color of daylight had finally begun to creep into the sky at the beginning of my bus route. The moon and stars no longer held domain. Before my first stop, I noticed that the ground was finally covered in a full blanket of snow, and the skeletal deciduous trees which was full of sparkly frost, had taken on a cerulean blue tone against a slightly green blue sky. I also noticed that the pines and spruces still remained stoic in their own dark silhouettes, and laid witness to the pink marked horizon which differentiated heaven from planet. The day before, I saw the rising sun as it was being stretched into a lit taper while snowflakes danced about an ever-increasing clear sky in flashes of diamonds. Today, I laid witness to the promenade of her majesty, the large super moon, across the early, pre-dawn firmament.
This was the serenity that occupied my pre-vernal world; however, before I got to inhale, a cry so rudely interceded upon the scene. It was the screech of a boy. He was trying to remind me that, in spite of my many years of experience, I still had a lot to learn about the various environs of a big, yellow school bus. You see, these internal biomes hold “creatures” that I have never seen, let alone catalogued. The reason is simple, you see. A yellow school bus is very much like the deepest of oceans, uncharted due to conditions inhospitable to humans...or so I have been told.
“Make it stop! Make it stop!” cried the boy who was sitting directly behind me.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because it is hurting me,” whimpered the boy.
“What?” I asked.
“The Stop Arm Beast!” yelled the boy, as if it was obvious that I had seen the creature, along with the rest of the bus.
I had never heard of such a thing, let alone seen one.
“Um...okay. What did it look like?” I posed.
With a sigh, the boy confided, “Well, it is red. Has a flashing eye. And then some white on it.”
“Um, that’s not much of a description,” I said.
“That’s because it was not attacking you! It knocked my glasses off my face!” screamed the boy.
“Okay,” I cajoled.
Apparently, the Stop Arm Beast must have taken great exception to the placement of the boy. You see, the boy sat directly behind me on the bus. He had not sat in that seat until this morning. Now, apparently, every time I stopped the bus and opened the door, the Beast would jump out of its hiding spot and promptly attack the student. Then, just as quickly would disappear again. It was puzzling. I had assumed that all of the creatures to be found on a school bus would be harmless, even if there were monsters. But here was the scene, a monster attacked a boy. The proof was in the boy’s eyeglasses.
Disappointed, but determined, I waited in the driver’s seat for the monster to reappear. The boy in the seat behind me did the same. And there we sat while the countryside sped by our point of view. And we waited. Then, finally, after opening the door a number of times, I noticed a flash of red with a touch of white. It moved so fast. It could have only been the Stop Arm Beast. Before it could attack the boy, I grabbed the top of the wee beastie. It blinked a red eye at me in confusion and, probably, anger as well. It decided to turn its “attention” on me, which was good for the boy, but not so much for me. We fought for a second or two, and then I noticed it had decided to grab a hold of my sleeve. It would not let go. So, we fought for a second or two more. Still, the Stop Arm Beast couldn’t or wouldn’t let go. Then, it decided to go into hiding. And bang! Like that, end of the struggle.
So, here I sit on my school bus, waiting. The moon is gorgeous, and so are the stars. I hope that I will be able to get some dinner...because I am sitting on my bus still waiting for that angry Stop Arm Beast to let go of my arm. Eeeewww. It has now rolled up my sleeve....and started to lick.
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