It was not quite 3:30 in the afternoon when the driver of the big yellow school bus announced to his riders that the service for tomorrow would be cancelled.
They all cheered.
“ Not so fast,” the driver told the kids. “ The bus run is cancelled. Not school. If you want to ride your snow mobile to school you have my blessings.” Oddly enough, not one of the students agreed to try to make it to school the next day, no matter the weather.
And that’s the way it goes here in rural Saskatchewan. The weather can be fine one minute and atrocious the next. That’s what had happened that day.
And, truth be told, the driver did wrestle for a time with this decision. He’s one of those old school guys who figures if you have a job to do, you should do it -- no matter what. It was his job to get the kids to and from school, so he should do it, no questions asked.
Then, the more he thought about it the more he realized his main task was not to necessarily just transport the kids, but also to keep them safe.
What good would it do to risk ending upside down in a deep snow bank just so a few students wouldn’t miss out on math class?
So, he called off the next day’s trip. Wise move. As it turned out the road conditions had worsened by the hour that day, and by the next morning ( tomorrow, which is now today ) local officials were advising everyone to stay off the roads.
The driver knew his decision had been the correct one. It was now Thursday. What would Friday bring?
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