The Odyssey

Gather ’round children and sit by the fire, for here is yet another tale of adventure and woe from the land of Genoa.

Alas there was a teacher-who-was-ill and had to be replaced by our heroine. Although she feared entering the world of middle school to substitute him, she had no choice but to accept for the good of the many. That night she slept fitfully, with a premonition that the following sunrise would lead to a day of fear and of suffering. The morning dawned on our red-eyed heroine and she busied herself with work around the home, desperately trying to avoid the one thing she hated most – driving the vehicle of doom on a rainy, bus-striken day.

But the clock chimed noon, and time was nigh. She took a deep breath and entered the vehicle of doom. As she entered the rain began pummeling down and she realized to her dismay that she had forgotten her beloved umbrella, nice and warm on its shelf at home. Surprisingly she drove without incident and, after parking, handed the keys to her beloved knight in shining armor, who would then take care of the vehicle of doom’s return home that night.

Upon dashing under the rain to her place of work, she discovered that one of her students had cancelled for reasons beyond her control. Anxiety grew as the time approached to go to the middle school and substitute the teacher-who-was-ill. The school was up in the hills above the clouds and she climbed into her free ride and soared up up and away. Sooner than she imagined she found herself deposited on the hilltop in front of the school and entered. The sharks were circling, but the first group was sated and had little interest in her. The second group, however began to frenzy, and caused great fear, but thankfully did not bite. The hours passed without grave incident and she dashed out of the school in the clouds, right into a downpour.

The buses were supposed to be un-stricken, but not a one came by. So began her decent down down down below the clouds on foot, with the occasional short flight caused by bursts of powerful wind. After nearly forty minutes of struggling she reached the nice warm school, and huddled near the fire to dry her damp clothes.

Hours passed and the long day finally came to an end. She received a call from her knight in shining armor who had finally reached the safety of their home, after an hour battling the traffic of Genoa-under-the-rain. But what he did not tell her was that the buses had not un-stricken, in fact they had decided that they would prolong their strike and locked themselves in their castle, leaving the commoners stranded in their wake.

Our wet, cold and shivering heroine, desperately waited for her bus, battling the wind, but had no choice but to yield when nothing came. So she walked many a mile to find a taxi driver to take her home, and saw a furious crowd roiling with confusion and wrath. Fearfully she entered the fray and after a brief power struggle was able to secure a taxi with three other companions, all going to the same destination.

At long last she reached her warm home and after some hot soup cuddled in a nice warm bed with her beloved knight.

And they lived happily ever after…until the next bus strike.

The end.

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