Student Shortlisted Entry
Chris Pryke-Hendy
Your first sentence was “One going Clifton, one going town”. You beamed, Grub, and we clapped and cheered and kissed you. For the next five months, we went to the swings at Queen’s Walk, and you would shout at passing buses.
“OH! IT’S THE GREEN BUS” and “IT’S A BIG BLUE ONE!”
You loved the double-deckers going to Clifton, you waved at the drivers and learned the number 48. You always needed to actually touch the stop. But it wasn’t the time for touching things. Or for riding buses. We made do with watching them, and with singing about their wheels going round and round while we played on the swings and you gradually learned to climb the ladder to the slide. We once heard you talking about the “double blue-one going Clifton” in your sleep.
Eventually the daffodils opened at the base of the Stop.
“Grub, you know the bus that goes to Clifton?”
“The blue one. Double one. 48.”
“Do you want to ride it?”
You went very quiet and searched my face with your little eyebrows lowered. You can look so earnest sometimes about the funniest things. But this was big for all of us.
You COULD NOT BELIEVE IT when the 48-bus stopped just because I raised my arm. The door opened and we all hesitated at the step. You clambered up, clutching my hand. You peered up and found the courage to say what we’d been rehearsing all morning – “One going Clifton please”.
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