Child Of A Bus Driver

Chapter two - Ive seen you before

The alarm struck 6:00 am and I was sitting on the bathroom floor, drunk, sick and hungover but thankful that Thursday's didn't contain any lessons that involved running round a field. I made my way to the shower, taking of the sick covered clothes and turned on the water. Stepping out of the shower I grabbed my towel and rapped it round me, it had been on the towel warmer so it was nice and warm. Getting dressed took ages, I had to make sure I was warm and even had a hot water bottle to carry to the bus. There was a search to find my school bag, but I eventually found it and was putting all sorts of things in,even books I didn't need and hurried off to catch the bus.

The bus pulled up before I did and the doors opened, I hurried on and handed Jack the money  " blimey, what do you look like?" " yeah, yeah I know I look bad, here's  the money, jack" but I looked up and saw someone completely different, the man I saw had black hair it was combed back and gelled, he had brown puffy eyes and when he smiled you could see his top teeth like in the picture  " you alright, love?" His voice was as soft as a blanket and he had a Essex accent, I took a deep breath before I spoke " yeah, fine thanks, where's jack?" " he's of sick, so I'm doing his shift"....... I didn't know what to say  so I said the obvious thing " I'm Katie by the way" " nice to meet you, dear" he said " go and sit down, don't want you to get hurt". Once sat down I pulled the picture of my dad out my bag and found a resemblance in the photo and the driver, they both looked familiar and sounded it to, my dad had the same accent , but because he didn't mention his name I closed the case and fell asleep. " Katie, Katie, come on wake up" " what" " come on, we have arrived at school" " oh" " here, are you sure you're alright?" " yeah I'm fine" I replied, getting up but falling back down, he looked at me in a strange way "here you're not alright, are you?" " if you can say that spending the night in the bathroom being sick is alright, then yeah I'm fine" he helped me to my feet and out the bus " you go careful, now" " I will, thanks" I replied.

Hungover and a little drunk I made my way to form, which was up some stairs, I made it half way till I fell flat on my face falling down " shit!" I screamed " it had to be on my head" I had a second attempt to get up the stairs and this time I made it, opened the door and went in to form. It was in form that a thought occurred that maybe the bus driver is my dad so I searched my bag for the photo, but it wasn't there " blimey, I bet I've left it on the bus". And that wasn't the only thing, I got a feeling that today is gonna be rubbish.

I was thankful that maths wasn't to difficult and thankful that the teacher wasn't that worried that my head was on the desk, it had been a horrid day. I was shouted at by every teacher, which because my headache was that bad I told them all to shut up. I had fallen down every staircase that I've had to go up and nearly fell up one. To round it of I've sent lunch break again in the bathroom, but it was nearly home time and I knew that I could sleep on the bus and when the clock struck 3:50 pm I was downstairs and waiting at the bus stop.

When the bus pulled up and the doors opened I stepped on to it and he was there sitting waiting for me " afternoon, have you had a good day?" He asked " if you can say that falling on you're bum down some stairs and spending lunch being sick is a good day then yes it's been a blast" " oh you make me laugh, bit like my daughter" " you have a daughter?" " yes, but I don't know where she is" " owe" I knew at that moment who you were and not by the way you looked but by the way you spoke, dressed and responded to questions  but I still got the feeling you didn't know me so to be safe I just handed you the money and before I sat down you called me back " here, Katie is this yours?" He showed me a photo " yes, where did you find that?" " where you were sitting this morning " here you go and by the way, who is it off?" He asked " my dad" I replied " he's a handsome chap ain't he? What's his name?" " his name is Stanley butler he's good friends with jack, they were mates" he just smiled " go and sit down" he said.

The bus arrived at the bus stop I wait for every morning " bye" I said to the bus driver " see you soon" I walked of down the road and again the rain came,hard " Katie!" I heard someone shout, I turned and realized the driver and gotten out of his cab and stood by the bus " its me, I'm the man in your photo, I'm your dad " I took the picture out my bag and lifted it " it is you!" I ran to him, he bent down and opened his arms, I ran in to them he pick me up and like in the picture held me tight, my head on his shoulder " oh baby" he said kissing me on the cheek and putting me on the ground I had a tear in my eye, he wiped it " I've been waiting for someone to do that for ages" I said he smiled " get back on the bus and I'll take you home". Heading back to the depot I was filled with so many questions that needed answering and when we pulled in to the depot Jack was waiting for me " Jack!" I shouted and ran to him he picked me up " Katie, do you want something to eat?" I nodded " there's a cafe in here, come on" I followed my dad, walking beside him I slotted my hand in to his " blimey, I've always known how much that girl has missed her dad, even when she's says she hasn't" Jack said to the inspector " that's right, Jackie darling" I said " owe you little basket" Jack replied, smiling.

Once in the canteen dad brought me my favorite dinner, I was bursting with questions and desperate to know answers, he brought the food over and gave me my plate " here you go" I smiled, he tucked in to his. " ain't you eating?" " yes" I lifted a chip to my face but before I took a bite I said " can I ask you something?" He finally stopped eating "you can tell me anything you want" he said with a smile upon his face " why was I put in to care?" There was a pause, a long one, he pushed his plate away from him and began with " when I found out that you're mum was having you, I was full of emotions and when you were born, I held you so tight in my arms and had fallen in love with this little thing in my arms, shorty after you were born, Susie, your mother found out that she had cancer, but there was nothing I could do because with in weeks she had died. It then dawned upon me that I wasn't gonna cope. I became scared, scared because I didn't know how to raise this child on my own, I knew Jack would help and support me but I didn't want to keep bothering him, so I put you in a home for a few months and took a job as an entertainer on a cruise ship " my eyes had widened, I couldn't believe what he had said " that's your answer to that question, it was just because you were scared ?" I said " I don't think you understand" " oh I understand alright" I stood up and walked out my face was covered with tears " Jack! Jack!" I cried " where are you?!" I turned round to found my dad had walked out " Katie, love, don't cry" I just ignored him " jack! Jack! Where are you?" I just sat on the cold depot floor waiting for  Jack to come " what's going on here, Katie are you alright?" I had my arms open, he picked me up of the floor, I ran behind him like a child hiding from a monster. It didn't take him long to realize that mine and my dad's faces were tear stained " Stan, you alright mate?" He asked " Katie, wanted to ask a question and I delivered the answer, I guess she didn't like the answer", Jack turned to me, bent down " Katie, I know you haven't seen your dad in a while and I know he's a little basket, but he isn't telling a lie. I know because he was so scared that I had to hug him and believe me that was tuff, but all jokes aside, you are so lucky to have this man as a dad. Katie you are going to get answers you don't like, that's life but please don't walk away from that amazing man over there" with that he stood up, I looked at my dad, who was still crying and with no hesitation ran over to him and hugged him ever so tight. Looking deeply in to each other's eyes he gave me that big smile, like the one in the photo. "I've been waiting years to see that smile" " I know you have".

It had been a day filled with emotions, there had been excitement, suspicion and a little sadness but I realized when my dad tucked me in to bed just how lucky I was to have a dad like him, yes I'll admit that he did put me in care and the reason was a bit silly but at the end of the day I had my dad, who was right down the hall and the best part I had my bus conductor, Jack just opposite. Finally after 12 years I was happy. As he walked to the door he said his finally words " goodnight, darling" " goodnight dad..... I love you!" " I love you lots more".