The panels of the bus’s front door were rattling The way they rattled one side had to be loose Tyler wondered if the school district saved the rundown buses for these Saturday speech tournaments The bus rumbled down Interstate 10 through the Arizona desert The trip back to Phoenix was a torturous hour and forty five minutes Normally that didn’t seem far but today it felt like the longest ride ever and they were only halfway there Through his window Tyler saw endless acacia trees buckthorn desert willow trees and deer grass On the way to Tucson Tyler’s teammates had been all fired up goofing around and practicing speeches for their events But no one had that energy anymore after losing at State With a sudden popping sound the bus sputtered and lurched and slowed down The driver struggled to pull over to the side of the road Why are we stopping Sha’relle asked kneeling up on her seat 3
Probably ran out of gas José said Other students leaned up in their seats to get a better look The noise inside the bus grew as they began chattering about what they thought the problem might be Tyler spotted smoke escaping from under the front of the bus The bus driver reached down from his seat pulled a latch and popped the hood He whispered something to their speech-team coach Mr Dwyer who then stood in the aisle and faced the team The loose door shuddered as the driver opened it Everyone calm down The driver needs to check something under the hood We should be back on the road shortly Mr Dwyer adjusted his baseball cap and scratched his beard Tyler frowned Their coach usually wasn’t a fidgety guy He hadn’t even seemed this anxious at their tournament earlier that day Something seemed seriously wrong We can’t get stuck here I have plans tonight Sha’relle said 4
Yeah Daniela piped up Me too Take your seats everyone Just give us five minutes while we figure this out Mr Dwyer replied Sha’relle finally sat down Mr Dwyer swung around the front handrail and met the bus driver outside He continued his beard-scratching and cap adjusting as he spoke with the driver and pointed under the hood The driver waved his arms and wiped sweat off his brow That dude sweats a lot Tyler thought to himself A wind picked up and blew Mr Dwyer’s baseball cap right off his head and he ran after it Whenever he got close to the cap it lifted off the ground and traveled another five feet away José and Kevin pointed from their seats and laughed It did look like a comedy skit but it was weird to see their coach so out of it He was usually a pretty calm thought-out guy it was one of the reasons Mr Dwyer was one of Tyler’s favorite teachers Mr Dwyer crouched down and finally caught his hat 5
Smoke continued rolling out from under the hood of the bus that couldn’t be good The wind blew the smoke sideways Tyler watched as the bus driver stepped away from the hood and slammed it closed The driver tore off his own hat and threw it on the ground in a fit Almost immediately his eyes looked over to the bus By the way the man’s gaze drifted along a number of the windows Tyler figured he wasn’t the only student who’d seen the driver do that Several people were now leaning against the windows to see what was happening outside The driver sheepishly glanced around and picked up his hat Yep we’re stalled Sha’relle said Not just stalled Kevin corrected This bus has broken down Tyler looked down the road in both directions They were in the middle of the desert alone on the side of the road with no towns in sight Aw man said L J I wanted to be home to watch the Sun Devils ASU is in the playoffs Mr Dwyer climbed back onto the bus A 6
