SUMMER
ANTS’ SPECIAL SCHOOL BUS
- Jane Trygg-Kaipiainen -
Livelyville was basking in hot sunshine. It had
been a lovely summer and the hot, sunny
weather had lasted for weeks. Life in Livelyville
was as usual, as good as it gets, and all the
animals in the city were happy. Especially the ant
families were especially pleased because a new
ant school had just been finished. Both the
parents and the school children were eagerly
waiting for the school to start.
Andy Ant had been dreaming of a new red
rucksack since spring. It had rained heavily on
Tuesday, and Daddy Ant had had a day off from
work. Daddy Ant took Andy and Andy’s best
friend Charlie shopping and the three had
walked to the department store. Andy had
shown Daddy the rucksack he thought was the
best. Daddy had bought a similar rucksack for
both boys. They were the happiest two ant boys
on Anthill. The boys walked back home along
the Hill Road with their new rucksacks on their
backs, looking like smart schoolboys.
One afternoon, when all dads were back from
work, Andy and Charlie went to Daddy Ant and
asked, “Can you please walk with us and shows
us the way to the new school, so when school
begins, Charlie and I can walk there together on
our own? After all, Charlie is my best friend in
the world and I’m his. It’ll be so much fun. And
besides, we are nearly grown up.
Daddy Ant knew like all other animal parents
that children should be familiar with the route to
school well before school starts. Daddy Ant
looked at the two boys, thinking. They were
such good little lads, proud of their new rucksacks and looking at Daddy Ant, eyes wide open
with anticipation. “Well, of course I’ll walk with
you and show you the way. You two are still too
young to walk to school on your own,” Daddy
said.
So, Daddy Ant took both boys along and together they walked from their house from number 2
Hill Road, past Charlie’s family house at number
4 Hill Road, across the road, past the library,
along the winding Ant Path all the way to the
new school. Daddy Ant made sure to point out
every dangerous spot along the way to school.
The boys were told to always walk on the
pavement, stop before crossing the road and
look carefully left and right. They should watch
out for bikes and cars and pay attention to the
traffic all the time. And not to play or fool
around on the way. Daddy Ant and the boys
walked back the same route, and Daddy repeated all the same warnings.
When they reached home, Charlie’s dad was
already waiting for them. He was glad Daddy
Ant had walked the boys to see the school. He
asked Charlie, what the route was like. Charlie
eagerly told his dad what the route was like and
of any danger spots along the way. Andy eagerly
added his own remarks to Charlie’s story. Little
by little, Charlie’s dad began to look worried and
glanced sideways at Daddy Ant, who was
shaking his head. They could not believe it! The
boys had got it all wrong, and did not remember
anything Daddy Ant had just taught them. The
boys were simply too young.
Daddy Ant said the boys had done a good job
but that they would need to practice walking to
school several times over, and Charlie’s dad
agreed. But there was the problem: who would
be able to walk the boys to school and back
again? The parent did not dare let the boys walk
to school alone, not even after practising the
route many times. The dads also realised Andy
and Charlie were not the only ones starting
school, there were many new ant pupils starting
year 1 or year 2 or pre-school.
As we all know, Ant dads work hard from
morning until late in the evening and Ant mums
are busy at home taking care of their babies and
the house. Mums cannot leave their babies
alone to walk their older children to school.
Neither can all the dads be late for work every
morning.
Andy saw what the problem was. “What if we
had a school bus,” he suggested. “Then mums
and dads could carry on with their work and we
would get to school safe and sound every day.”
But this was not possible, he was told. There
were no busses running on Hill Road or the
entire Ant Hill. Besides, everyone knew that ants
really like to walk and hike. Driving a car or
taking a bus was really not their thing. Only very
rarely they might take the bus if they wanted to
go somewhere really far. That’s just how it was.
The sons and the dads were sad as they did not
know how to solve the problem.
Suddenly Charlie tapped Andy on the shoulder
and whispered something in his ear. “Yes!” Andy
exclaimed. “Yes, yes!” “Dad! “Dad! Charlie just
had a really good idea. You could walk with me
in the morning and we could pick up Charlie,
Amanda, Freddy and Mary along the way.
Charlie’s dad could come and pick us up from
the school in the afternoon. The next day it’s
Amanda’s dad’s turn and Freddy’s dad could
fetch us, and so on. That would be so much fun!
We would have our own walking school bus!
Both dads nodded with approval. What a great
idea! “Well done, Charlie, that was really clever
of you,” Daddy Ant said, praising Charlie. “Then
only one of the dads needs to take a little time
off work to make sure the kids get to school and
back home safely. I think we can do that. Oh,
this will really make all mums happy! We have to
start practising with our new walking school bus
as soon as possible, tomorrow. The walking
school bus will start from our gate at number 2
Hill Road at 8.30 in the morning. Charlie must be
ready to join the bus at number 4 Hill Road at
8.35. We will pick up Amanda at number 7 Hill
Lane at 8.40...
And this is how the ants got their own school
bus. They could get to school safely the way
they liked best: walking together with a grown
up. All in all, the last days of summer in Livelyville continued as usual, as good as it gets, and
all the animals in the city were happy. Especially
the ants.