I began this story on:
Saturday, April 9, 2011 1:14 AM
The Bus Driver
by Ora Lea Harrison



Chapter One
The New Driver
      Betsy ran rather than walked to the bus stop in hopes of seeing the new driver when he arrived.
      The line had given a retirement party to Ol' Wyndal the evening before and most of his regulars had been there.
      She really didn't have any place special to go right now but was anxious to see who had gotten their line.   She wondered if they would transfer someone already there or if they would let a new guy on.
      They would all miss Wyndal, he had been driving most of them as long as they could remember.
      The usual crowd was already waiting, they really had some place to go, Betsy thought.
      She joined in the early morning chatter until the bus came in sight.
      Everyone became instantly silent, words hanging in mid air, while they all waited until he was close enough to see.
      He was different, he was young, for this crowd, anyhow.
      He opened the double doors and smiled at the waiting crowd.   They became alive as though one person and smiling, climbed aboard the new driver's bus.   Hopefully, he was a real bus driver who didn't mind going the same route all day long until his shift was over.   A real bus driver saw the people as people and the events of the day as he drove along as what they were, different.
      Everyone had been in driver's buses where he obviously didn't like his job and made his passengers suffer because of it.
      Betsy waited until all of the passengers had boarded and stepped upon the bottom step so she could get a closer look.   The new bus driver was about to close the doors, thinking that she was getting on but she just said,   "Hi, I'm Betsy, I'm not going anyplace right now, I just wanted to see the new driver.   I'll be back later."
      "Hi Betsy, I'm Trevor, I'll be looking forward to seeing you later on then.   Bye, now."   Smiling at her, he indicated that she should get off so he could continue on his run.   Even though she was wanting to talk some more, she stepped down and stood there waving at her neighbors, who were laughing now.
      Betsy smiled to herself,   "It'll be alright, then,"   she said aloud.
      Walking back to her house, she picked up the morning paper from the driveway and plucked the rubber band wrapped around it, humming to herself.
      It was already a beautiful day, she thought to herself.
      I think the new bus driver liked me, he gave me a special look, I could see it in his eyes, she thought.
      Moving Butch's tricycle from the sidewalk in front of the steps, she practically floated up to the front door.
      Her sister, Leann, was in the kitchen, feeding Butch and her little girl, Angela, their breakfast.
      "Where'd you go off to?" Leann asked her, as she was getting her coffee.
      "I just wanted to see the new bus driver,"   Betsy said,   "he's a real dreamboat, wait till' you see him."
      "Here we go again, you and your dreamboats, I'll be glad when one of them will pay your bills for you so you'll settle down and stop seeing stars all the time."   Leann couldn't help but laugh at Betsy.   "Angela, stop playing, we have to get to the sitters."   She turned her attention to her daughter, who was slapping at her scrambled eggs.   "She'll need another bath, now.   Oh, Angel, how I wish you were."




Chapter Two
The Bus Ride
      While Leann took the children to their next door neighbors, who kept them while their Mom's worked, Betsy decided if she would go to work today or not.
      Leann had a good steady job at a doctor's office but Betsy rather liked to play the field as far as jobs were concerned.   Using her basic office skills, she worked out of a temp office, going where she was needed when someone didn't show for their regular job.   There was usually something available when she called or went in to check.
      As long as she was keeping up her share of the bills, she didn't feel that she should have to work everyday.
      Sometimes she let Butch stay at the sitter's even when she didn't go to actual work.   It was an environment that he was used to and she knew the neighbor well, a warm, motherly woman who really did like to take care of the little tots, as she called them.
      Her desire to see the new bus driver again won out over her wanting to just stay around the house so she dressed and when Leann came back, she was ready for their walk to the bus stop.
      Betsy and Leann both carried bags with their work shoes in them to exchange for the sneakers that they wore until they got there.   The sneakers were nice and clean so they didn't look too foolish with their work dress clothes.
      There was a different crowd at the bus stop when they arrived but they could have been reenacting a play, they were so like the earlier one.   There were smiles when the new driver pulled up.
      Betsy and Leann waited until the crowd had loaded up and Betsy stepped up with Leann following her.   "Hi Trevor, I'm back and I brought my sister, Leann."
      Trevor nodded, remembering her from before and smiled at her and Leann as he motioned them to sit down.
      She positioned herself directly behind him so she could see him in his mirror and Leann sat across from her.
      They talked until they reached their destination and waving bye, they got off and before they went their separate ways, Betsy asked Leann,   "Well, what do you think?   Was I exaggerating or is he a dreamboat?"
      "Alright, I'll admit, he is quite handsome and seems nice.   I'll see you this evening, okay?"

      Betsy's job for the day was with a lawyer's office that she'd worked at before so she already knew how everything flowed.   She sat down at her desk and began her work, hoping to look official enough that she'd actually be asked for next time.   This was a job that she might not mind settling down for.   The people who came in were interesting, some even a little scary.   Hardly the same clients from one temp time to the next.
      The bosses were classy, they even ordered a lunch spread for the office on a daily basis.   The office staff were encouraged to take home any left overs at the end of the day so there wouldn't be any throw aways.
      This wasn't just a thrown together affair, a lot of thought for the best production was at work here.   It made for a happier staff who got along better together.
      At the first opportunity, Betsy phoned Mrs. O'Leary to see about Butch, needing to touch base with him.   She could hear him in the background talking and smiled.   She loved the little tyke so much and wished that she could be with him more.   He looked so much like his Dad, she was glad that they'd had him before Matthew had died.
      She wouldn't think about Matthew, not this morning, not at work.   Even though he'd been gone two years, she still missed him.   She'd always felt that it was just too good to be true to have the marriage that she'd had with him.
      She'd known Matthew most of her life but had no special feelings for him until one day, they were both with the same group and all of a sudden, they looked at one another and she was aware of how she looked.   Odd, she had thought, that she was thinking about herself when she became attracted to him for the first time.
      He was really the first boy that she'd become so close to, so soon.
      She hadn't even looked at another boy after seeing him.
      She had been in her senior year in high school and he in his senior year at the university but there were phone calls and letters to read over and over and put under her pillow to sleep and dream on.
      Come September, knowing that they did want to marry, they had a small ceremony at their church.
      Little Matthew or Butch, as they liked to call him, came along eighteen months into the marriage and filled out the family.
      The phone rang and looking at the little reminder that she always kept next to her phone so she wouldn't forget the firm that she was with for the day, she came out of her reverie and picked the receiver up.
      "Gilbreath, Gilbreath and Lester,"   she spoke into it.


Chapter Three
The Date

      Trevor wasn't on the going home bus since his shift was over but when they were going out to their parent's house with the children for supper, he was.
      When Butch saw Trevor, he said, "Daddy!"
      Betsy, Leann and Trevor joined the laughter on the bus.
      Betsy thought about it, Butch had never done that to another man before.   She wondered if there was a resemblance that she hadn't noticed.   She studied his face in the mirror from her seat behind him, hoping that he wouldn't notice.
      Catching her eyes, he said, in a voice meant only for her ears,   "That is a wedding band on your finger, isn't it?"
      Matching his tone, she replied,   "It's for the memory of my late husband as well as for Butch."
      "Do you date?"   he asked evenly.
      "I haven't up to now,"   she answered.
      "Would you go out with me?"   he asked.
      "Yes,"   she said.
      "Saturday night?"   he asked.
      "Yes,"   she answered.
      Handing her a pad from his shirt pocket, he said,   "Write your name and number here and we'll make our plans, okay?"
      Walking to their parents from the bus stop, they were quiet and then Leann looked at Betsy and said,   "You need to put a stop to this, this man's serious about you."
      Betsy quietly answered,   "So am I about him."
      Saturday evening, Trevor stopped by for Betsy and took her to the Starlight Cafe on the top of a building downtown.
      There was an orchestra and while they waited for their dinner to be served, they danced.   It was soft, gentle music and even though they hardly knew one another, they felt at ease and Betsy laid her head on Trevor's shoulder.
      She felt the same way she had when she and Matthew had been together.   She didn't want these moments to stop.   She wondered if Trevor was feeling the same way that she was.   She looked up at his face and saw her own feelings reflected in his eyes as he looked at her.
      They had talked some on the phone during the week and on the bus whenever she had someplace to go.   Now, she said,   "You know, I've not even been to your house.   If you're not busy tomorrow, come to dinner after church and then you can take me to see where you live.   Okay?"
      He smiled as they walked back to the table and said,   "It's a date."
      The next day, Leann took Angela to see her husband's parents, as she had promised she would do at least once a month while he was serving his country.
      Trevor came and Butch took charge of entertaining him while Betsy finished preparing dinner.   Going into Butch's room where he and Trevor had set up his race track, she just stood at the door and watched before announcing dinner.
      A feeling of tenderness welled up inside her so that she couldn't speak.
      After the kitchen was cleaned, they got into Trevor's car and he drove them to his house which was within three miles of her's.   The house was very similar to her house, having been built in the same period.
      They were just modest frame homes but Trevor showed her and Butch around proudly.
      Finally, Betsy looked at him and said,   "You know, I own the house where we live.   Leann is living with us while her husband is in the service."
      He looked at her surprised, "I just thought that you were renting.   I own this house, too."
      They both laughed.
      "I'll bet Leann and Lemuel would like to buy my house if I wanted to sell it,"   Betsy said without hardly thinking about what she was saying but not really feeling sorry about it.
      "Are you saying what I think you're saying?   Do you want to move in here, are you willing to marry me after knowing me for such a short time?!"   Trevor looked at her with such hope in his voice that Betsy was overcome.
      "We're not young lovers, we're mature adults who know our own minds.   We're compatible, we have the same standards, you and Butch get along and most of all, we really like and respect each other.   Why mess around for six months or two years?"   She was remembering how short of a time that she and Matthew had had and didn't want to waste time.   She already knew that she and Trevor would be good together.
      "Oh, wow, this is too good to be true, I want to tell everybody that I'm going to have the best little wife in the whole universe!"   Trevor was practically shouting, he was so excited.   "I'm not perfect, you know, I have bad habits and haven't even lived with anyone for years.   I believe I could change to accommodate you and little Butch though."
      Butch joined their laughter even though he didn't know what was going on.
      "Listen,"   Betsy was saying,   "Don't even bother me before I've had my first cup in the morning!   I'm a regular female, too, I need my time in the bathroom."
      "I have sister's,"   Trevor said, "I know all about you females, you're not running me off."

      Three months later, Betsy and Butch climbed aboard the bus and he cried,   "Daddy!"
      Betsy laughed with the passengers as she sat down behind the driver and casually placed her hand on his shoulder, revealing her new wedding set on her third finger.


The End




      Finished on Good Friday, April 22, 2011 @ 1:08 AM
      Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it.   You can send comments about my stories to ora.lea @ gmail.com
      Ora Lea Harrison

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