When It Rains

I woke up at 6:45 to the sound of the doorbell ringing. Usually I'm up around 6 or 6:15, but during the night, I didn't feel well, and didn't sleep well, at least not until it was time to get up. Isn't that always the case?... It was Stephen and Spencer, who arrive every morning at 6:45; their mom drops them off, and they wait until the school bus comes at 8:00.

Except this morning, as I stood outside with Spencer and my son Ethan, who take the same bus, the bus didn't come. We kept watching and waiting to see that bright yellow bus with the headlights on to break through the grey of the morning; finally, we gave up. Being a one car family, with my wife already gone for the day, this was a problem. We started walking, in the cool drizzle, towards the school, but then the bus did appear, 15 minutes late. John, the bus driver, explained something about how he'd be late from now on, or at least for the rest of the week, due to something that I didn't quite understand. Whatever.

I returned home and tried, again, to call a neighbor that I'd been trying to reach. All day yesterday the line was busy. Today, the line appeared dead. So I walked over to their house, since they live just across the railroad tracks. Turns out their phone always goes on the fritz when it rains.