Based on a True Story*

It is Halloween. My son holds my hand as we walk to the bus stop to wait for the school bus. He has his Halloween costume stuffed in his backpack; toward the end of the school day, he'll change into his costume for the class party. He is excited to be a pirate, and has been practicing his "argghs!" all morning.

The bus is few minutes late this morning, and I jog in place to keep warm. It's colder today than it's been all month. Finally I see the bus rounding the bend and coming to a halt.

The STOP sign flips out, and the door creaks open. I walk my son up to the steps, and look up to the bus driver, Heather. She is unrecognizable this morning, wearing a clown costume with a big red nose and wig. I remark about her perfect disguise, and lead my son back to his seat. I am about to put him in his carseat, when I call up to Heather, asking where the other passengers are. Normally there are three other boys on the bus by the time it gets to our stop. Heather grunts from the front. As my mind slowly realizes that the grunt from the front was way too low and guttural to have been from Heather, I notice the blood on the seats in the back, and then it is too late.



*The true part: Hutton's bus driver, Heather, did wear a clown costume on Halloween, and she was unrecognizable. But she wasn't an evil clown. Phew!