Do The Bus Stop The bus trip up to camp would take about three hours. As we all piled on early one Monday morning I had no idea just how crazy the next three days would be and just how often I would have to use the four colour. It was a pretty boring first half of the bus trip, making our way out of our suburb and through the city, the big bus doing battle with smaller cars making their way to work. It wasn’t until we reached the freeway that things got a little interesting. Well, interesting for me anyway. A big truck was travelling in front of us, a semi trailer, the kind that carried sheep. I could see their woolly bums sticking out through the grates that held them in their cramped little stalls. Sam and I were sitting up the front (poor baby gets a little bus sick!) and we were joking about how messy it would get if one the sheep happened to do a number two while the truck was right in front of us. While we were giggling (I know, so immature but I am only 10 after all!) I noticed one the grates on the back of the truck bouncing a little more than the others. Funny, I seemed to be noticing the little things a lot more since my visit with Aunty Karen. With each bounce the grate looked looser and looser. The truck’s indicator flashed, an orange light winking at me as it prepared to over take a car that was slowing its progress. As it veered out to the right its massive wheels bounced over the little bumpy things on the surface of the road. How could such a small piece of plastic stuck onto the ground cause such a big problem? Well let me tell you! The extra vibration caused by the plastic bumps in the road was enough to separate the grate from the truck. The large piece of metal smashed hard into the ground and with flying sparks bounced back up in the direction of our bus. As the truck’s trailer completed its move into the new lane, sheep began to lose their footing. Disaster loomed. Now I know I made that sound very dramatic, but fear not. I bet you can guess what happened next, and you’d be right. I dipped into my pocket and flicked the red slide into place (I never went anywhere without the four colour now!) Sheep paused in mid air, looking like fluffy balls of cotton wool and the deadly looking metal grate looked pretty harmless except for the crusty pieces of sheep…..well that is one description best left to your imagination. For this job I jabbed Sam in the arm with the blue slide, thinking I could use some help putting the stinking sheep back in the truck and reattaching the grate. Aunty Karen had never really told me how long things stayed on pause for, but I was guessing that nothing stayed frozen for ever.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 06:10:00 +0000