MR. HICKSON

I wanted to write about Mr. Hickson because he is such an interesting and intriguing person. He's the girls' bus driver to the elementary school. Of all the bus drivers at the school, he's most like the one in the Simpsons.

The first time I saw him at the school talking to the principal I thought he was there for one of the drug talks. He wears motorcyle leathers, well usually just the black Harley vest and the black leather fingerless gloves and some chains. He has two long dark braids, a very bushy beard and it's not unusual for him to have a do rag on. Being somewhat counter culture myself I was really glad to find out he was our girls' driver.

He is one of the most conscientious drivers I've experienced. He has pizza parties for the kids on the last day of school on the bus. He gives them little candy treats or pencils for good behavior.

One day my husband got a call at work wondering where Ana, our oldest daughter was. I had come to pick her up early for the dentist and so she didn't get on the bus. He wanted to make sure she was safe and sound before he drove off from school. If there is no parent waiting at the bus stop he always waits to make sure the child is with someone that the family has given permission for. Otherwise he waits. He's stressed to us that he really wants to look out for "his kids", meaning our kids.

We had one Down's syndrome neighbor who usually fell asleep on the bus ride home and Mr. Hickson was always so patient about waiting for him to wake up and allowing his big brother to come aboard and make sure he arose and was safely off the bus before he turned off the red flashing lights. A bus driver like this is very dear to the hearts of neurotic, worrying type parents.

We seem to run into him often in town, at the grocery store and Wal-Mart. Usually we see him at the library on Saturdays, both his wife (who also wears a black leather vest)and I have often ended up perusing the foreign film dvds next to each other.

He has two sons. One is in Ana's grade and the other has moved on to middle school. They have longish hair. But I remember when one of them started wearing a white shirt and tie to school. It seems like kids always like taking an opposite stance to their parents' clothing choices.

My old boyfriend, the one in the band, used to be a school bus driver in the mountains too, in Evergreen, and I've always been appreciative of the fact that they can tolerate the noise in the bus and the bad weather, the curvy roads and early mornings.

One morning two kids in a car hit the bus my boyfriend was driving. He stopped and quickly went to check on their situation, they were both unconscious. He radioed in help and returning to the car found that the kids had a pipe and some marijuana with them. He said he threw them out in the bushes as far as possible. It seemed like the kids were in enough trouble all ready and after making sure they were safe he did that last little act of rescue which I'm sure saved them a lot more hassle than they already had coming.