Bus Blues

On Tuesday Stuart and I were outside waiting for Claire's bus to come home. The bus came flying around the corner and let a bunch of kids off. The only problem was, Claire wasn't one of them.

Almost before I could react the bus took off. I started frantically waving down the bus to no avail. She rounded the corner and was off. Stuart was immediately upset and I cannot tell you the panic that washed through me. Had this been the first day or two of school I might have understood but we're into our 3rd week.

I ran inside and called the school. I informed them that Claire hadn't gotten off the bus. I was then put on hold (for what seemed like hours) while they called the bus service. The entire time I was on hold I tried to be logical. Claire was probably just fine. She's probably still on the bus or got on the wrong bus but that everything would be fine. Despite all that mental "pep talk" I could not stop from wanting to scream and vomit at the same time. It did not help that a few days before I had had this horrible nightmare about Claire and was afraid this was now coming true.

The school got back on the phone and said they had radioed the bus and the bus driver informed them that Claire wasn't on the bus. "Well where is she?" I asked. I was put back on hold. Claire's teacher was called to make sure Claire was put on the right bus. She was pretty sure Claire had been put on the right bus, but thought it was possible she got on a different one. So other buses started getting radioed.

At this point I start to become numb. You know those shows where they talk about every minute that passes while a child is missing there becomes a greater chance you won't find them? All I found myself doing was dwelling on that fact and panicking that we had to find her and find her now. Stuart got in the car to go take off to the school. As he starts to pull away a van comes up the road and starts honking.

I didn't know the lady but she leans her head out and says, "I think I have your baby." Relief washed over me as the van opened and out hopped Claire and I recognized a girl in the van as a classmate of Claire's. I of course hugged Claire tightly and she claimed that she had been on the right bus, but the bus driver hadn't given her enough time to get off and then she didn't know what to do so she got off at another stop.

THANKFULLY it was a good stop. THANKFULLY there was an alert mother who noticed (what she thought was a kindergartner) standing by herself with no parent to go to. She apparently asked "Who's baby is this?" When no one claimed Claire her daughter said, "That's Claire. She's in my class." Hailey's mom tried to call the school to get our number but couldn't get through because we were on the lines with them. Claire couldn't remember our number. So they put Claire in their van and drove around a bit until Claire recognized something familiar and gave them directions on how to get home.

When we were all collected we went inside and I called Parkway's public transportation number. I took lots of deep breaths before calling. I even talked with Claire to make sure she wanted to stick by the not enough time story telling her it was important we know really what happened because it wasn't fair to get someone in trouble if she had fallen asleep or just didn't get off, etc. She said, "No mom, she didn't let me off. I even said wait, but she didn't." That of course sparked my anger again and took more breaths.

I think Transportation knew I would call. I firmly, but calmly said that the bus driver has to give those kids time to get off the bus. Even I was surprised how fast the kids had gotten off the bus not only that day, but in times past. The bus driver moves along. The lady agreed with me and said they would be reporting to her supervisor and she would be talked to. Fair enough.

So yesterday Stuart, Jeremiah, and I stood right where the bus stops, stood in front of the door, made sure she couldn't drive off, made sure Claire got off and just stared at the bus driver. You know, she didn't even say she was sorry. Didn't even look like she cared. What is it about people not being able to apologize these days?

Anyway, I guess the most important thing is that Claire is safe. While I still don't like her riding the bus (this is why I didn't let her ride it last year) I am trying to move forward and let Claire ride anyway. But you can bet I've gone through new safety rules with Claire. She now knows our phone number and we're working on her address. I was just glad we had played "How to Get Home" so often in the car. That's when the kids take turns recognizing roads, signs, etc so in case they were lost they could get home. Claire's gotten pretty good at it. It paid off the other day. Just time to step up those security measures a notch.

I'm just glad my baby is safe at home.