THIS MORNINGS ESCAPADE, EMERGENCY EVACUATION

DarlingHubby handing food to the needy.

"Ri-i-i-ing, ri-i-i-ing"

"Hello, good morning."

"Hello, I gotta tell ya about this morning's escapade."  It was Darling Hubby, jubilant, saying he had a story to tell.  When I saw his number on the cell phone screen I thought it unusual for him to call at this time of day.  He must've had a few free minutes between his bus route and his mail run.

Everyday, after picking up kids, he picks up the mail from each of the school buildings, takes it to the administration office, sorts it, then distributes back to each of the school buildings.   

There was another noise in the house besides that "ri-i-i-ing", I'd set a timer for my reading assignment.

"Okay, give me a minute, I wanna shut off my beeper.  Go ahead."

"Today, here at the elementary school it's Emergency Evacuation of the Buses Day.  I told the kids last week, on Monday.  I wasn't supposed to, but I did anyway, I told them we'll be having an Emergency Evac on Wednesday."

"Harper and Emmy, a couple of my kindergarten kids, were scared."

Ever since Darling Hubby retired from his career job and became a part-time worker driving a school bus he calls the students "my kids".  He really, truly feels that way; says they are his merchandise and he has to "get them from point A to point B safely and intact".  

He said, "I told [Harper and Emmy] this'll be fun."

They cried, "Oh, noooo." and "Ew, boo hoo."

The high school guys who always sit at the back of the bus were given the job of seeing that everyone got off safely, especially the blind girl, Macy.  They opened the back door, turned the 5 gallon bucket upside down, (it had served as a trash can), used it as a step, and quickly ushered everyone off.

"Macy nearly fell off the bucket but the guys caught her.  I patted her on the back.  She did a good job."

"We have 2 minutes but we got off in just over 1 minute!  We were the fist ones done."

I said, "That's great!  Congratulations!"

"Sherry, a first year bus driver, complained, "Hey, he used a bucket!"

"The boss said, "We-ell...."

"I reminded him, "You said use whatever you have, so I did.  He agreed."

"So I gave all my kids high fives!  We do this once in the fall and once in the spring." 

I asked, "What happened with Harper and Emma, the scared young 'uns?"

He laughed, "
They were excited, "That was fun!  Can we do it again?"

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