Two days later, when I had given up hope, they called me and said I had gotten the job. I felt immense happiness in my chest, as if a light from heaven had illuminated me and told me I was the chosen one. They told me I would have to show up on Monday at 7 a.m. to coordinate payments and schedules.
On Monday, I was there at 6:30 a.m. The secretary was waiting to take me to the director so he could inform me of my routes.
“Good morning, director,” I murmured with a little embarrassment as I entered his office.
“Good morning, Oliver. Have a seat and wait a moment while I finish this,” Thomas said as he finished typing something on his computer.
“I'm done, now I'm with you,” he smiled as he turned to look at me.
“So this is your first time working as a school bus driver.” My trembling hands did not go unnoticed by him, so he slid out of his chair and walked around the desk to me.
“There's no need to be nervous. We know each other, and I know you're a good driver,” he said, placing his hand on my shoulder and patting it several times to calm me down, but contrary to what he thought, it only made me more tense.
“Okay,” he quickly moved his hand from my shoulder, and the warmth I was beginning to feel disappeared. He walked over to the printer and picked up some papers.
“So these are the routes you'll be driving,” he stared at me, and I felt my body tense under his gaze.
“The late limit is 3, and I will not tolerate any more, without exception. Once you sign, the responsibility is yours. You must be here at the exact time.” He handed me the papers and verified that I had to be at the school at 6:30 a.m. to check that everything was okay with the bus and start the route.
“Go to Anna and she'll tell you who Luis is. Today is his last day here and he'll show you the route that will soon be yours,” he said as he returned to his chair and continued working. As I turned to leave, I felt his eyes fixed on my back as if he wanted to pierce through me. I didn't pay any attention to it because he was probably just wondering what I was doing there.
Anna was talking on the phone at her desk. When she saw me, she raised a finger, indicating that I should give her a minute while she finished the call.
“Do you need anything, Oliver?” she asked as she hung up and turned her attention to me. Her incredibly blue eyes scanned me from head to toe, then settled on the T-shirt with the school logo.
“Hi, the principal told me to ask you about Luis,” I said as my gaze turned to the door and I felt a jumble of emotions—relief, nerves, pride, and sadness. I got the job, although I didn't expect to run into Thomas.
She smiled at me and then stood up from his chair. “Follow me, I'll take you to him,” he said, smoothing his shirt as he headed for the door.
“Luis is our longest-serving driver, but today is his last day, as he is retiring,” he said as he took me to where the buses were parked.
I had a knot in my stomach as we approached Luis. My hands were sweating, and I felt like everyone was watching me as if I were a circus monkey performing acrobatics. When we reached Luis, he was checking the bus's fuel.
Luis was wearing a blue T-shirt with the school logo, jeans, and dark blue sneakers with white soles. He was around 60 years old, although what gave him away most was his white hair. His eyes were brown and a little close together, and his nose had a bump. He was about 5'7" and stood up straight. From what I could see, he seemed to have problems with his right leg, as he dragged it a little while walking, but all this gave him an affable air and made him seem friendly, along with his smile, which was characteristic of him, as could be seen from the wrinkles around the corners of his mouth.
We couldn't talk much because it was getting late and during the trip the children began to get on. By 7:45 a.m., we had finished the route, but we had to start again at 1 p.m. to take the elementary school children home and at 3 p.m. to take the high school children home.
The elementary school was smaller and only had a few hundred students. The walls were beige with different drawings, apparently made by the children, ranging from princesses to cars, trees, families, etc. It was a single-story building with about 10 classrooms, each with 15 children.
Before starting the route, the teacher would give us a list of the children to pick up and their addresses. By the end of the day, I was exhausted, my voice was hoarse, my feet hurt, and I had an unbearable headache.
Before I knew it, three months had passed. I get along really well with the other drivers and have even met up with them a few times to watch soccer games.
Author's note:
This story is written in a language that is not my first. I hope the emotion still reach you.
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