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Speaker 1: Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves.

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Speaker 1: From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

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Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

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Speaker 1: my experiences and life lessons. This Country Life is presented

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Speaker 1: by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you

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Speaker 1: the best outdoor podcast the airwaves have to offer. All right, friends,

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Speaker 1: grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some

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Speaker 1: stories to share. Riding the school bus. Riding the school

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Speaker 1: bus was both a pleasure and a pain, a service

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Speaker 1: provided by the school district to allow every kid the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to get an education. Some of the best lessons

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Speaker 1: learned happen right there while the wheels go round and round.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you all about some of them.

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Speaker 1: But first I'm going to tell you a story. My

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Speaker 1: brother Tim was almost seventeen when the school superintendent tapped

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Speaker 1: him on the shoulder in the lunch room and told

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Speaker 1: him to come to his office. Tim, being a highly

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Speaker 1: decorated veteran of Shenanigan's buffoonery, assumed the worse and followed

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Speaker 1: mister Tarkington to the office. Unsure as to what he'd

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Speaker 1: been caught at, he said he kept his mouth shut

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Speaker 1: and didn't say a word and would just wait until

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Speaker 1: he knew what he'd been accused of before he started

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Speaker 1: his defense or accepted his fate. He didn't want to

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Speaker 1: fess up to something that they didn't know about yet.

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Speaker 1: That was a rookie mistake, and a rookie he wasn't. Tim,

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Speaker 1: I want you to drive a school bus for me.

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Speaker 1: Can you do that? Tim was a little surprised. He said, well,

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Speaker 1: I can drive it, but I have football practice. Superintendent said, well,

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Speaker 1: it won't be every day. Just when I need a substance.

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Speaker 1: I'll talk to Coach Johnson. That'll be fine. If you

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Speaker 1: want to do it. I'll pay it, just like I

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Speaker 1: pay everyone else that drives one. Yes, sir, I'll do it.

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Speaker 1: Tim said he had no idea why he picked him

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Speaker 1: out of the cafeteria that was filled with students, but

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Speaker 1: picked him he did, and now he had a job

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Speaker 1: that would put cash in his pocket. Tim Reeves, sixteen

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Speaker 1: year old Warren School District substitute bus driver. Times were

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Speaker 1: different in nineteen seventy four. Tim's certification consisted of a

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Speaker 1: driving test that started at the bus lot located on

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Speaker 1: the north end of what was then actually filled where

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Speaker 1: the Mighty Lumberjacks squared up against anyone brave enough to

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Speaker 1: show up on Friday nights in the fall of the year.

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Speaker 1: Just across the fence from the north end zone that

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Speaker 1: separated the football field was the bus lot at the

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Speaker 1: corner of Seminary and Bryant Street. It's still there today.

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Speaker 1: On the appoint Tim met Arkansas State Trooper Jody Roper.

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Speaker 1: He was there for his test that consisted of him

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Speaker 1: driving out of the bus lot and making one particularly

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Speaker 1: difficult turn at the intersection a short distance from the lot.

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Speaker 1: Once completed, he gave up his seat to other would

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Speaker 1: be substitute drivers who were all adults, and they performed

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Speaker 1: the same task. That was it. That was the test.

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Speaker 1: Trooper Roper signed off on Tim's license and made it official.

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Speaker 1: Times were different in nineteen seventy four. Now. Tim showed

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Speaker 1: up at the bus lot one afternoon for one of

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Speaker 1: his first assignments after learning that he was needed to

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Speaker 1: fill in for a driver who had gone home sick.

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Speaker 1: When he got there, the bus supervisor assigned him to

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Speaker 1: a bus that he'd never driven before on a route

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Speaker 1: he'd never driven before, and told him before he left

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Speaker 1: that remember the gas pedal had a tendency to stick

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Speaker 1: in the down position. He followed that up with grab

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Speaker 1: a young and that lives the furthest from school, and

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Speaker 1: they'll tell you where to turn, where to go, and

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Speaker 1: you will make all your stops. I'll wait for you here.

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Speaker 1: I see you back about five five pm. May sound

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Speaker 1: like pretty late, but you've got to remember how rural

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Speaker 1: Southeast Arkansas is, and even more so was then. There

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Speaker 1: were a lot of kids to take home, and they

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Speaker 1: were stretched miles from town all over the county. Tim

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Speaker 1: picked a kid up out of the group who said

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Speaker 1: he knew all the stops at the first school he

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Speaker 1: went to. He agreed to be his guide and would

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Speaker 1: pass off the duty to another kid he pointed out

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Speaker 1: to Tim, who would help him finish the few stops

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Speaker 1: that would remain on his route once he got off

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Speaker 1: the bus across the river. Tim's route from school to

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Speaker 1: school across town was like clockwork, all the kids piling

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Speaker 1: on him, grabbing a seat, his guide giving him updates

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Speaker 1: as he made his stops. When kids started getting off

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Speaker 1: through the edge of town, down narrow streets and obscure neighborhoods,

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Speaker 1: a guy telling him three will get off at the

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Speaker 1: next stop, and they did. Two will get off here

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Speaker 1: and they did. Keep going. You don't have to stop

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Speaker 1: at this one. They ain't on the bus. He said.

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Speaker 1: It was like having the first GPS. The kid remembered everything.

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Speaker 1: He said. He was right on time and almost done

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Speaker 1: with the town portion of the route, and there were

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Speaker 1: about twenty kids on the bus with one stop left

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Speaker 1: to make before leaving the city limits. His guide said,

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Speaker 1: three will get off at the next stop, but they

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Speaker 1: won't get off until you turn right on that side street.

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Speaker 1: Then you can back up and turn around and we'll

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Speaker 1: head out of town. Tim said he was knee deep

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Speaker 1: in third gear leaving that last stop, headed for the

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Speaker 1: next one when he took his right foot off the gas,

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Speaker 1: only to realize it had stayed on the floor. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't like he was painting the road red blazing down

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Speaker 1: the street, but he could see the intersection where he

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Speaker 1: needed to stop and turn for his next stop, and

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Speaker 1: the fear in the eyes of the three kids who

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Speaker 1: were seated across from him, who were supposed to get

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Speaker 1: off at the spot they were approaching with ever increasing velocity.

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Speaker 1: Now in hindsight, Tim said, all I had to do

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Speaker 1: was mash in the clutch and turn on my flashers, stop,

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Speaker 1: reach down and pull the pedal free and go on.

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Speaker 1: But that's not what I did, he said. In the

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Speaker 1: heat of the moment, he could see there was no

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Speaker 1: oncoming traffic in front or falling behind, So he bent over,

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Speaker 1: grabbed a pedal, and with all the strength he could muster,

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Speaker 1: he pulled it free from its locked position. It took

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Speaker 1: longer than he'd anticipated. When he sat upright, he saw

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Speaker 1: that while he'd done an excellent job of staying properly

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Speaker 1: aligned in the street, he was a lot closer to

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Speaker 1: that stop sign and turned that he needed to make

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Speaker 1: for his final st up in town. He said, it

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Speaker 1: was actually a thing of beauty. Oh. He whooped that

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Speaker 1: thing so sharply onto the side street, maneuvering that bus

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Speaker 1: like a seasoned veteran stunt driver and stopping at the

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Speaker 1: exact place his guide had told him to aim for.

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Speaker 1: The only negative was the physics experiment. The remaining kids

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Speaker 1: were all unwitting participants of that rattled them around like

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Speaker 1: beans in a coffee can. School Books and younguins were

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Speaker 1: scattered all around inside the bus. Nobody was crying, and

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Speaker 1: a quick look in the mirror had everyone up and

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Speaker 1: moving around, gathering up books in each other. No one

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Speaker 1: said anything, He said it was rather proud of how

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Speaker 1: he'd handled the situation, even though it had scared him

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Speaker 1: pretty good. He was lost in thoughts, staring straight down

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Speaker 1: the side street in front of him, patting himself on

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Speaker 1: the back, and very thankful nothing worse had happened. Now

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Speaker 1: he had to back up. It would need his guide

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Speaker 1: to help him watch cars. He still had an hour

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Speaker 1: or so driving left to deliver the country kids, the

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Speaker 1: biggest portion of his route home. He looked up in

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Speaker 1: the mirror and he was the only one left on

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Speaker 1: the bus. He looked across and down the street, and

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Speaker 1: the dozen or so kids that were left took the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to get off the bus right there. Even his

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Speaker 1: guide had abandoned him. He said, I don't know how

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Speaker 1: they all got home that day. All I know is

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Speaker 1: they didn't ride with me, And according to my brother

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Speaker 1: tem that's just how that happened. Riding the school bus

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Speaker 1: for me was an eleven year pilgrimage to and from

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Speaker 1: school with my friends and some of my enemies. Why

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Speaker 1: only eleven years and not twelve, because I worked like

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Speaker 1: a man possessed during the summer time haul and hay,

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Speaker 1: and every Saturday that I wasn't hunting, I was at

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Speaker 1: the local sail barn, pushing cows and other livestock through

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Speaker 1: the cell All winter I was trapping and selling fur.

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Speaker 1: And I saved my money to buy a truck that

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Speaker 1: would deliver me back and forth to school and away

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Speaker 1: from that bus sized germ filled petri dish of pandemonium.

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Speaker 1: Every day was a battle between the forces of good

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Speaker 1: and evil, and depending on what grade you were in,

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Speaker 1: the amount of joy or pain you endured from the

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Speaker 1: time you stepped on until you either walked off triumphantly

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Speaker 1: or jumped off in fear for your life. Since eighteen

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Speaker 1: ninety two, when the first school car was built up

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Speaker 1: in Indiana, parents have been entrusting the welfare of their

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Speaker 1: tax deductions to complete strangers who only had to possess

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Speaker 1: a good enough sense of direction to find their driveway

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Speaker 1: in the schoolhouse. Twice a day. The school car, which

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Speaker 1: was a wooden wagon with benches at the youngun sat

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Speaker 1: in while staring at the exhaust pipe of a horse,

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Speaker 1: ferried the little hoosiers two and from school one step

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Speaker 1: at a time. I bet that made for an early

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Speaker 1: morning in a long afternoon. It reminds me of being

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Speaker 1: in a summertime kindergarten like program in Rising, Arkansas and

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Speaker 1: riding the bus home after a long and arduous day

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Speaker 1: of learning my numbers and letters, learning how to share

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Speaker 1: a space with folks I'd only just met, and the

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Speaker 1: grace and how to conduct yourself when your classmates are

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Speaker 1: losing teeth left and right and accidentally pooping the breeches

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Speaker 1: in recess that and tire young and out to the

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Speaker 1: point of mental physical exhaustion. We lived several miles out

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Speaker 1: of town into a five year old human of bus

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Speaker 1: seats substituted nicely for a bed on a thirty minute commute.

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Speaker 1: We were the last stop on the route at that

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Speaker 1: location where we lived in so there was plenty of

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Speaker 1: time to catch a few z's before we got there.

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Speaker 1: Every day, mister Michael Lemmons, a teacher, and our bus

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Speaker 1: driver had to get up and find the sea that

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Speaker 1: I was snoozing in and wake me up to get

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Speaker 1: off the bus. That was in nineteen seventy one, advancing

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Speaker 1: ahead a couple of years and in the fall during

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Speaker 1: the regular school year. My brother Tim and the rest

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Speaker 1: of us waited at the end of the driveway for

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Speaker 1: the school bus, just like we did every other day,

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Speaker 1: with one exception. Tim was holding a shotgun and wearing

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Speaker 1: a shell vest he'd hidden in the covert at the

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Speaker 1: end of our drive the night before. That's right, I said,

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Speaker 1: the shell vest and shotgun. The bus pulled up as

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Speaker 1: if nothing was out of the ordinary, because really it wasn't.

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Speaker 1: Tim and his friend Rusty Ramick, who lived back toward town,

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Speaker 1: had conspired to go duck hunting instead of school, an

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Speaker 1: elaborate scheme that hinged on one thing. Mister Lemmon's buying

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Speaker 1: Tim's story. He'd been rehearsing all morning long. The bus

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Speaker 1: slowed to a stop and the doors opened up to

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Speaker 1: Tim reciting his lines to perfection. Mister Lemmon's mama said,

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Speaker 1: my grades were so good that I could skip school

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Speaker 1: today and go duck hunting with Rusty. Can you let

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Speaker 1: me off at his house? Mister Lemmons looked at Tim.

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Speaker 1: He never changed his expression, and he said, Tim, as

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Speaker 1: your shotgunloaded, No, sir, all right, sit here behind me,

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Speaker 1: so me Our middle brother, Chuck and heavily armed Tim

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Speaker 1: filed onto the bus, taking our regular seats, and Tim

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Speaker 1: sliding into his spot behind the driver's seat, grinning like

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Speaker 1: a possum chewing on a wire brush. A few miles later,

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Speaker 1: he stepped off the bus at Rusty's House and into

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Speaker 1: the school skipping Hall of Fame. Two fourteen years year

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Speaker 1: old boys had just hacked the school system into being

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Speaker 1: there accomplice for a day of duck under on the

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Speaker 1: Saline River. No one ever squealed and Mama never found

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Speaker 1: out what happened on the bus. Stayed on the bus.

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Speaker 1: But riding the bus was a privilege, not a right.

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Speaker 1: There was a decorum to be followed in penalties for

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Speaker 1: when you didn't. My buddy Michael Roseman and his sister Stephanie,

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Speaker 1: the dynamic duo behind the sun spot hunting lights, told

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Speaker 1: me once they were riding the bus when a fight

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Speaker 1: broke out in the back. The bus driver was famous

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Speaker 1: for hollering at the kids to get your head back

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Speaker 1: in the window, but the fight was started by a

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Speaker 1: bully who terrorized everyone on the bus for so long

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Speaker 1: that finally someone had taking a stand. The bullet started

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Speaker 1: losing not only the fight but his reign of fear

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Speaker 1: over the rest of the students went miraculously. The emergency

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Speaker 1: exit door opened when the bus stopped at a stop sign,

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Speaker 1: and the bully fell or was pushed out onto the street.

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Speaker 1: Seeing everything from the driver's seat in the big mirror

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Speaker 1: that tells all, the bus driver drove away, leaving the

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Speaker 1: bullet standing there, defeated in no other recourse but to

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Speaker 1: walk the rest of the way home. Bullies usually get

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Speaker 1: their due if they run a foul long enough. It

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Speaker 1: is the course of justice and the way of the bus.

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Speaker 1: I remember another time we'd moved from Rising and started

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Speaker 1: going to school in Warren. It was Tim's junior year

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Speaker 1: and I was eight. We were riding the bus Number five,

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Speaker 1: driven by one of the best men I've ever had

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Speaker 1: the pleasure to meet, mister Moses Williams, known to everyone

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Speaker 1: as mister Mobs. He went to work in the school

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Speaker 1: districts of Bradley County, Arkansas as a bus driver and

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Speaker 1: mechanic in nineteen forty eight, and for the next fifty

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Speaker 1: seven years, mister Mose piloted a yellow school bus, retiring

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and five after driving what I estimated

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Speaker 1: to be to the moon and back. Several times over

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Speaker 1: and not once having an accident, not once. He wore

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Speaker 1: navy blue Dickies work pants and a matching shirt and

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Speaker 1: tucked neatly inside. His pants were always ironed and always clean.

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Speaker 1: A faded red shop rag hung from his back pocket,

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Speaker 1: ready when needed. Time of year dictated whether his shirts

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Speaker 1: were long and short sleeve. A black leather belt, polished

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Speaker 1: black leather shoes, and a brown cap with small red

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Speaker 1: and yellow stripes that followed the seams of worthy panels

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Speaker 1: were sewn together. It was what he wore every day.

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Speaker 1: He smelled of aftershave with a hen of diesel lava soap.

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Speaker 1: Sitting next to him made me feel like a king.

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Speaker 1: I sat beside him both days on the flat spot

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Speaker 1: of the console that housed all the rocker switches for

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Speaker 1: the bus number five that controlled the lights beside the

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Speaker 1: driver's side window. That was not a seat, not by

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Speaker 1: any means was it intended for a child to sit on.

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Speaker 1: But what it was was a place of honor for

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Speaker 1: the boys that acted good and were respectful with the

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Speaker 1: actions and manners. That was a lot of things, young

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Speaker 1: and mischievous and somewhat feral at times, but at no

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Speaker 1: time was not ever disrespectful, especially to mister Mose. There

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Speaker 1: were others, however, who were We're gonna call him Billy,

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Speaker 1: and Billy was a year younger than Tim, but several

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Speaker 1: grades behind him. Billy was a veteran bus rider of

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Speaker 1: mister Moses' bus, and we were more or less the

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Speaker 1: new kids. And while I had earned somewhat of a

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Speaker 1: lofty position getting the set next to mister Mose and

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Speaker 1: turn on and off the bus lights, Tim and Chuck

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Speaker 1: sat close to the back, which seemed to be universally

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Speaker 1: where the older and the cool kids sat. Junior high

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Speaker 1: and elementary students filled the gaps in between the high

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Speaker 1: schoolers in the front of the bus, where I concentrated

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Speaker 1: on when I was going to get to light up

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Speaker 1: the blinking lights at the next stop. I wasn't concerned

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Speaker 1: with what happened behind me. Mister Moles was. I can

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Speaker 1: see him now, a small framed, lean man. You could

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Speaker 1: see the muscles and the veins in his arms as

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Speaker 1: he man handled the school bus down the road with

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Speaker 1: no more piasteering than a stick horse. Driving down the

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Speaker 1: road and watching on coming traffic while glancing in the

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Speaker 1: mirror that revealed what buffoonery Billy was up to, which

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Speaker 1: was usually picking on someone smaller than him. Mister Mose

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Speaker 1: was famous for saying, y'all tightened up, back there, tighten

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Speaker 1: up now. It was as animated as he got it,

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Speaker 1: but he didn't have to raise his voice much. It

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Speaker 1: worked on the rest of us, like your grandpa getting

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Speaker 1: on to you. Nobody wanted mister mos upset with him,

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Speaker 1: except Billy. He didn't care. You could see the frustration

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Speaker 1: of mister Moses's face any time he had to get

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Speaker 1: on to anyone. Why can't you just ride the bus

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Speaker 1: and be good to your neighbor. Like mister Mose, he

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Speaker 1: was the standard for which manners could have been taught.

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Speaker 1: We all followed his lead, except Billy. He didn't care.

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Speaker 1: The day of the incident started out as any other.

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Speaker 1: We'd all been on the bus for several stops on

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Speaker 1: the way to school that morning, when on one of

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Speaker 1: the last stops before kids started getting dropped off at

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Speaker 1: the appropriate school, Billy got on with the rest of

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Speaker 1: the kids at his spot. The bullying began immediately before

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Speaker 1: Billy had gotten into his seat. He was picking on

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Speaker 1: a smaller kid who was a regular target of Billy's

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Speaker 1: and no doubt dreading the next few minutes of terror

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Speaker 1: before he could escape the confines of the bus Number five,

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Speaker 1: and Billy's hour had apparently anticipated what was coming on,

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Speaker 1: because he'd already setting out one y'all tightened up back

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Speaker 1: there before Billy had sat down, with no more lights

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Speaker 1: to turn off, since the next door was for me

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Speaker 1: to get off the bus. I looked back, and I

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Speaker 1: watched Billy as he antagonized a kid who was in

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Speaker 1: my grave, thumping him on the head and taking his

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Speaker 1: books away from him. Billy laughing, his unkept, greasy hair

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Speaker 1: swaying back and forth as he laughed his evil, tormenting

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Speaker 1: laugh like a mad scientist on my classmate, coward of

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Speaker 1: deceit in the fetal position. And I saw my brother

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Speaker 1: Tim stand up as soon mister Moles saw it too.

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Speaker 1: Tim had a hard backed textbook in his right hand,

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Speaker 1: and in two steps he was standing beside Billy. The

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Speaker 1: rest played out like a dream. Tim cockt that book

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Speaker 1: back like it was a cold peacemaker. Billy turned to

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Speaker 1: look at him, still laughing at the little kid, but

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Speaker 1: he was terrorizing, who now slumped down in the floor

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Speaker 1: in the litter and goo. That seems to be the

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Speaker 1: standard for every bus I've ever ridden on. With lightning

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Speaker 1: precision and speed, Tim slapped Billy into the next zip

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Speaker 1: code with that book. The explosion of the blow plastered

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Speaker 1: that greasy hair to the left side of his head,

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Speaker 1: and the right side stuck straight out like he combed

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Speaker 1: it with a fire cracker. There was an immediate silence

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Speaker 1: on the bus, the echo of that blow resounding through

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Speaker 1: the crowd. Tim reached and grabbed Billy by the shirt collar,

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Speaker 1: and he pulled him close, speaking to him where only

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Speaker 1: Billy could hear what he was saying. All the while

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Speaker 1: Billy rubbed the left side of his face that was

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Speaker 1: now red as a barn door and imprinted with the

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Speaker 1: thread pattern of that school book. Billy listened in tently

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Speaker 1: him shoved him down in his seat when he finished talking,

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Speaker 1: and walked back and sat down where he'd been. Mister

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Speaker 1: Moles let out one more complimentary y'all tightened up back

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Speaker 1: there and never said another word, neither did Billy. As

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Speaker 1: far as the Reeves Boys and Billy go, it would

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Speaker 1: be twenty years later before he got another tune up.

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Speaker 1: I decided Billy needed to go to jail one night

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Speaker 1: for a warmth that had been issued for him, and

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Speaker 1: I happened upon him during a traffic stop. Billy decided

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Speaker 1: he would not go well. We settled at the old

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Speaker 1: bus number five way, he got tightened up and he went.

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Speaker 1: None of my kids have ever regularly ridden a bus

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Speaker 1: to school. Field trips and sporting events have been their

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Speaker 1: only exposure, and I feel like it been somewhat cheated.

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Speaker 1: The school bus is a great place for kids to

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Speaker 1: learn life lessons, just like mister Moles taught us. Good

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Speaker 1: actions are rewarded and the lesson Tim taught Billy bad

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Speaker 1: actions have repercussion. And then there's all the other lessons

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Speaker 1: you learn on there, like how you might wind up

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Speaker 1: sitting with someone that you don't know, or for one

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Speaker 1: reason or another you may not like because it's the

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Speaker 1: only open seat left. You're forced to coexist for a

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Speaker 1: period of time someplace you'd rather not be. But in

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Speaker 1: the end, your suffering or momentary discomfort didn't keep you

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Speaker 1: from where you were going, which was your purpose for

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Speaker 1: being there to begin with. As adults, we have to

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Speaker 1: do that in our everyday lives, except we substitute the

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Speaker 1: school bus our life goals and the struggles we end

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Speaker 1: you're to reach them now. That's a great lesson and

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Speaker 1: one that you're never too young to learn. Thank y'all

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Speaker 1: so much for listening to this country Life, Bear, Greece

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Speaker 1: and the Render. There's a lot of great content available

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Speaker 1: from Me to Eater. Jason and Dirk do some good

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00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,240
Speaker 1: stuff on they're calling over at the Cutting the Distance,

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00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:05,800
Speaker 1: and Tony Peterson has some good stuff coming out on

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Speaker 1: his Foundation show y'all check them out when you get

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Speaker 1: a chance. Until next week, This is Brent Reeves site

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Speaker 1: and off y'all be careful