A Glitch in the Matrix

 



On school days, my job is to pick up my grandchildren at our community school bus turnaround, a scant quarter mile from my house. I like to get there early — I wouldn’t want my little darlings to get wet or cold.

On this random Thursday, I’m parked at the bus stop on a misty afternoon, both dogs asleep in the backseat, awaiting the bus. I listen to a podcast as the heater blows toasty warm. Movement catches my eye, and I spot a bright yellow jeep when it passes, typically just ahead of the bus.

Sure enough, I hear the crunch of gravel, and I spot the approaching school bus. I clear off the front seat, then roll down my window and unlock the doors in anticipation.

I glance up, ready to greet the children, expecting the bus parked in the turnaround.

There is nothing there.

It is absolutely quiet.

Except for a bird calling in the distance.

I look all around. Confused.

There is nowhere for the bus to go. The lane narrows just beyond me before climbing a steep hill.

Maybe there is a new driver who overshot the driveway? In which case, I should see the bus reversing down the hilly and twisting road. Where is it?

What? I saw the bus. I heard the bus. Where did it go? Huh?

I wait and wait and wait until nothing. I am very confused.

15 minutes later, the yellow jeep passes. After a few more minutes, the school bus arrives and pulls into the turnaround. The kids emerge boisterous from the bus door. I drive home.

Just like usual, except I am at a loss to understand the day’s events. I ponder them and consider some possibilities.

Maybe I experienced a timeline shift. A distortion of time. A brief glimpse of an actual event occurring at another time, visible to me for a moment.

Or maybe it was all a delusion, and I’m loony, a first step on a straitjacketed spiral into “The Snake Pit” of insanity.


You decide. 

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