A Story

"Agrajag" (Agrajag) 01/07/2015 at 10:32 • Filed to: scarred for life, sketch, comic

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All the news about the school buses yesterday reminded me of a traumatic event from my childhood. It was one of those moments that stays with you as grow up. Haunts you. Shapes who you become.

It was around 1992, maybe 93. One of those years we had bad blizzards in the northeast. I was on my way home, with visions of an afternoon playing videogames, when the bus crested a small rise and came across a car that had slid off the snow covered roads into a ditch beside a stop sign.

The driver of the car was fine, but my driver was not. Pat(a really sweet old lady) was too terrified to go on.

"The roads are too bad. I'm calling for them to come out and put the chains on."

Now I only lived about 1/2 a mile from this stop. Naturally, I figured I'm glad that my house is close enough I can just walk home.

Pat:"You're only allowed to exit the bus on school property."

Me: "The fuck are you on about? Let me off. Oh. Okay." sits down sullenly

And there I sat for 3+ hours. There would be no video gaming that night. Because Dad was home before I was, and when Dad was home the only thing on TV was the news, or maybe the news.

thebigbossyboss > Agrajag 01/07/2015 at 10:35

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Once my buddy went driving in his car that had no brakes. He too crashed into a school bus. Only drive cars if they have brakes.

505Turbeaux > Agrajag 01/07/2015 at 10:35

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I have had a recurring dream since I was 5-6 years old that I am on a school bus in bad conditions and it goes off a bridge. I always wake up before we hit the water

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Agrajag 01/07/2015 at 10:37

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did you do the drawings for this story? it really helps to elevate the story.

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > Agrajag 01/07/2015 at 10:38

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Blizzard was in 93, Ice Storm in 94. I know, I was in High School at the time. I remember both rather fondly. The blizzard because I was stuck inside and couldn't do squat. And the Ice Storm because my classmates went on the class trip then and were stuck at PHL for about 26 hours waiting to depart. And I spun my car through a stop sign on black ice.

jariten1781 > Agrajag 01/07/2015 at 10:43

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Reminds me of my least favorite school bus memory. Elementary school in Oklahoma. Warm gulf air had been around for about a week so it was about 85 degrees in the morning when we headed to school so shorts and a T-shirt. By noon the folks up in Canada decided to send us an arctic blast and temps had dropped to around freezing. School is canceled and they bus us home.

School bus drops me off around 1 or 2 and I'm all excited to get inside and play the copy of Mega-Man 2 that I was renting for the 5 billionth time. Doors are locked. Little brother and I just sit outside freezing for half an hour or so until we figure we're going to die. Survival instinct kicks in and we go around knocking on everyone's doors until we find a retired lady down the street who lets us in so as to not have two child corpses on her door step. She doesn't even have a TV but she does ask if the school sent us home with homework.

CalzoneGolem > Agrajag 01/07/2015 at 10:44

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When I was in elementary school the district gave no fucks and would send the buses out through all those rural Maine back roads no matter what the conditions were. We routinely had to all go crowd around the rear wheel wells so the bus could get enough traction.

Agrajag > thebigbossyboss 01/07/2015 at 10:48

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Sage advice.

Agrajag > jariten1781 01/07/2015 at 10:51

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She doesn't even have a TV

That couldn't get anymore horrifying. Unless you were forced to consume Werther's Originals.

Agrajag > Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! 01/07/2015 at 10:53

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93 it is. Thanks.

Agrajag > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 10:54

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Yes, and thanks.

ttyymmnn > CalzoneGolem 01/07/2015 at 10:55

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You probably learned more useful information on those bus rides than you ever did in school.

ttyymmnn > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 10:57

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Agrajag is always looking for an excuse to show off his drawing skills. And that's okay, because he's really good at it.

CalzoneGolem > ttyymmnn 01/07/2015 at 11:01

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I had an ~1:30:00 ride so I never brought home homework

Agrajag > ttyymmnn 01/07/2015 at 11:18

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Thank you.

ttyymmnn > Agrajag 01/07/2015 at 11:23

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You're welcome. I'm always impressed by artists who can convey so much using such a simple picture. I'm no artist, but I always tend to overdraw something when I try. But it's little things, (and this sounds weird), but the way you drew your crotch in the third panel is an example. I would have used a straight line there, and it wouldn't have looked right, and I wouldn't have known why. And the way the minimal lines of the buzz haircut imply the whole head of hair where I would have tried to draw every hair. It's really quite good. Keep sharing them!

HammerheadFistpunch > Agrajag 01/07/2015 at 11:28

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I love this artwork, keep it up.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > Agrajag 01/07/2015 at 11:28

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The drawings are very expressive but not over the top. Really added a lot to the story! Thanks for posting.

Redbulldidlo > Agrajag 01/07/2015 at 11:34

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I remember one morning our bus ended up packed because they made us pick up the kids from three busses that got stuck or put in the ditch.

Agrajag > Redbulldidlo 01/07/2015 at 11:39

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Oh God, I forgot about having to do that. We probably did that day, but I don't recall.

TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut > Agrajag 01/07/2015 at 12:22

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My snowy regrets - one day years ago when I was still in primary school in Ireland, we got one day of thick, white snow. My parents decided not to take me to school because I lived in the middle of nowhere, 4 miles away from the nearest big village and my school. They thought it too dangerous to head out, so I just built a snowman at home. Turns out my friends that did go to school literally just had a snowball fight all day long with the teachers. Damn.

PushToStart > Agrajag 01/07/2015 at 16:35

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lol, reminds me of an incident on a school bus that I experienced. In the school parking lot, we were slowly inching our way to the exit, when some dipshit threw a cheese stick towards the front of the bus. Apparently, it caught our driver off guard and she accidentally bumped into the bus in front of us. Because this was technically an "accident" (even though there was no damage) the school district had to send out people to inspect everything and fill out piles of paperwork. We sat in the school bus in the Texas sun for about 2 hours. No AC, either. Fun times. Also, no one ever fessed up to throwing the cheese stick, so we ended up with assigned seats and weren't allowed to talk on the bus for the rest of the year.