Deedle deedle dumpling...

... my son Jon.

So everybody in my family is sick now, except Shannon and me. David has still never recovered from the lung congestion he incurred as a result of having his wisdom teeth out in January. Jonathan is also sick and is taking a Z-pack now, although he definitely has walking pneumonia. Once Shannon was diagnosed with walking pneumonia after being in bed for two days straight, an extreme oddity for her, and I would have really liked to know what was walking about it. But I digress. Shawn is sick and even stayed home from work for a day last week, which, for him is an extreme oddity as well.

Laura got very run down taking AP tests. She is full blown sick now as well, but says she doesn't want to take an antibiotic, so we haven't been to the doctor yet. Her last AP test was Thursday, AP Economics. The teacher set his final exam for the next day, Friday, and required that the kids come to school or receive a zero, there would be no make-ups for any reason.

Laura was as sick as a dog on Friday. She slept in and I took her to school late with a note that read, "Laura is late for school today because she is sick." I was very tempted to write, "Laura is late for school because she is sick, and she is only coming to take her economics final because otherwise she has been told she will receive a zero with no chance to make it up. She should not be in school at all today." But Laura convinced me that the shorter form was better. (Aside: Lu said that when she went into the attendance office with her note to get a pass to class from the secretary, she had a coughing fit just as she was trying to explain why she was late. She had a hard time stopping and when she finally got herself under control and handed the woman her note, the woman took it, gave her the pass, and then said, "I think I'm going to go use some of my hand sanitizer." To which Lu replied, "That's probably a really good idea.")

The upshot of Lu being sick is that Jon had to take the bus. Usually she drives them. Even when she doesn't drive because I need the van, she manages his schedule. Well, on Friday morning she was not available to manage Jon's schedule. The bus comes at 6:59, and they usually leave the house by 6:56 at the latest when they need to ride it. I know this. So I was trying to get Jon up, pour his juice, and take care of Lu's regular morning role.

Jon apparently doesn't love me as much as he loves Lu. He was slow to arise, and crabby. As I tried to encourage him to get going, he growled and snarled at me. Finally, at 6:58, he sat sprawled at the kitchen table, dressed, drinking his juice. "Honey, you really need to keep moving. The bus will be here any minute, " I said. He gave me a look of death and snarled once more, "Mom, I'm fine."

I took that opportunity to go back upstairs to bed. I climbed in next to Shawn and, pulling the sheets up to my chin, remarked, "I'll just lie here until he comes back and tells us he missed the bus."

We heard the door slam.

We waited... five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes. I was amazed. He did not come back.

Laura received a text message from a random friend from a different neighborhood at 7:15. She woke up to read it, and it said, "Laura, did your brother miss the bus?" She wondered, but didn't mention it to me until after school. After school, Laura asked, "Mom, was there something up with Jon this morning? I got a text about him at 7:15, and when I got to school, Ariana Dean asked me about him, because she said that when Jen Gass stopped to pick her up this morning, Jon was in the backseat of her car."

At which point I went and found Jonathan and interrogated him. His answer was as follows, though not a direct quote:

He went out to the bus at 7:05, believing that he had plenty of time. Nobody was at the bus stop, so he figured he was early, and just stood there. Another bus went by, a bus that his friends from the other half of the neighborhood ride. Shortly after that bus went past, Jen Gass drove up to the corner, saw him, stopped and rolled down her window. "What are you doing, Jon?" Jen asked.

"Waiting for the bus."

"Well, my little brother left our house fifteen minutes ago, and clearly he is not here anymore, so I think you missed it," she pointed out.

Jon made a consternated face and said, "Oh crud."

"Oh well, get in my car, I'll give you a ride," she offered. (I am feeling very warm and friendly and kind towards her, even now.)

So Jon was safely delivered to school. HOWEVER, in the meantime, the bus with all his friends from the other half of the neighborhood was in crisis. I'm not sure how it went, but apparently the driver, who was a substitute, was concerned about Jon, after seeing him standing forlornly on the street corner. The kids told her who he was, maybe they even told her that she shouldn't abandon him there on the street corner, I don't know.

The upshot is this: The driver decided that she would like to go back and pick Jon up, but being a substitute driver, she felt that she needed to get permission before doing so. So, she reached out to radio the busing garage for permission to pick him up. However, being a substitute, she was a little bit confused, so instead of hitting the "contact main bus garage" button, she hit the "emergency intercom to entire bus fleet" button. When she announced, "Jon Carpenter is standing on the corner in the Pinegate subdivision. Can I have permission to go back and pick him up?" the entire fleet of buses, serving a school of approximately 3000 students, heard her loud and clear.

That's my boy.