The Broken Down Bus

The Broken Down Bus 

By Paul McCann 

 

As the school football coach and a teacher , Mr Fingerton was kept quite busy with his various roles at Garden Street School .

Between training the team on the oval and teaching his students  in the classroom , he also was given another new role as the driver of the school bus which was to be used when the school team played away games against other school teams  in the competition .

The old school bus was noisy  and uncomfortable however it was the only one they had .

 

His team had a long drive for the next game , somewhere in the another county at a boarding school who had fielded their first team in the competition .

On Friday the last day of the week  Mr Fingerton’s mother had washed the teams shorts and jerseys . Mr Fingerton had picked up the bus after school and brought it back home .

After dinner he had an early night because of the schedule on Saturday morning . He had to collect all his players from the usual pick up spot and drive to the home ground of the new team in the competition .

 

Saturday morning  arrived  and he drove  the school bus  into the town where the team all waited in front of the post office .

One by one they boarded the bus and Mr Fingerton did a quick check to make sure everyone was present before driving off .

Before he began the head count  he started  the engine of the bus and soon they were on their feet to the game .

They were on the road for an hour when the engine of the school bus overheated . Mr Fingerton pulled over and opened up the bonnet to see steam pouring out of the radiator .

Mr Fingerton was all out of luck , stuck on the side of a country road looking for somebody  that might have a big tow truck.

 

A kind motorist passing  by stopped to offer assistance .

He took a look and gave his opinion ,  

“ You’ve could have a blown head gasket here I’m thinking .“

“ Oh no , I have all the school team on board the bus . We have a game to play this morning at St Paul’s Boarding School . It’s going to be so hard, for us now to get there “

The kind motorist replied .

 

“Sometimes not every Saturday but sometimes there’s a Farmer passing this way on his way back from the cattle sale yards . His truck would be empty after selling  his cattle. Maybe he could take you there you’re going as his farm is near that boarding school. “

Mr Fingerton shook the  hand of the man who offered advice .

“Thank you for that information . Maybe I’ll stand here and try to wave as his truck comes along the road .”

Suddenly the motorist said ,

“My you are in luck , here he comes now in his big truck “

They waved him down and the trucked pulled over . The farmer got out of his truck and said ,

“Are you having a little bit of difficulty then?”

Mr Fingerton said ,

“ I think we need to get a tow truck for the school bus “

The motorist said ‘

“ Ross , how are you doing . There’s a football team in the bus there who have a game to  play at St Paul’s Boarding school . Any chance you could give them a ride there in the back of your truck ?”

“Sure , I can do that . There’s just a bit of dung in the back but nothing to be scared off . “

Mr Fingerton told all the boys to get out of the bus . The farmer assisted them to get into the back of the bus . 

“ Now lads , just be careful you don’t step on the cow dung . Hold onto the rails and I’ll  get you all to your game “

Mr Fingerton thanked the farmer and the other man said ,

 

“I’m sure you can stay over at the boarding school for few days . I’ll organise a tow to a mechanic I know who will fix the  problem with the bus and deliver it back to the boarding school “

Mr Fingerton was so grateful for all the help he had been given .

The kind motorist said ,

“ Yes it so hard ,  when your  old school bus has give up on you with the whole school team on board .”

The farmer continued ,

“ Sure enough , it’s a low down feeling , you get when your engine goes flump but it will get sorted out in a day or two . Now let’s get your team to their game .”

Mr Fingerton took out the kit bag from the bus and asked a few  of the team to get the balls . Everything was put into the back of the truck and they were on their way again .

The farmer made his way around the bends on the country road until they arrived at St Paul’s Boarding school well in time for the game . The  other team were all laughing at the boys getting out of the cattle truck which only fired up the boys from garden Street who were ready to get their revenge on the playing field .

Before the game started Mr Fingerton spoke to the other coach and explained about the bus breaking down and asked if they could stay over for a few days until the bus was fixed . The other coach said he would do everything he could to help them in their situation . They were all welcome to stay at St Paul’s .

Not long before the game started Mr Fingerton saw two teams run on to the football field . As soon as they took their positions they all disappeared .

Suddenly the weather changed .

It was wet and cold when they kicked off the start of the game the first ever meeting of St Paul’s playing  Garden Street .

A few spectators had gathered to watch the game and stood around the football pitch .

Garden Street kicked off and there was an electric atmosphere as both teams pressed forward for an opening goal . Both teams were evenly matched and it remained scoreless at half time.

Mr Fingerton was encouraging his team to shoot for goal using high strikes because the St Paul’s goalkeeper was small in stature and might not be able to stop high balls going into the back of the net .

The second half kicked off with little change . The teams were evenly matched .

Then as one of the opposition tried showing off close ball control skills he lost possession of the ball and Garden Street scored the winning goal in the last seconds of the game .

Mr Fingerton was congratulated on the victory by the other coach who commended his team for their strong well-disciplined play .

St Paul’s had tried to play with an

aggressive approach but that failed to disrupt the Garden Street team who were playing with a new found belief in their team .

They sensed Mr Fingerton believed in them and liked his approach to their new style of play .

The St Paul’s coach  pushed his players go in hard but they were a spent force in the second half . No doubt his method might work on other teams that would respond with a similar aggressive attitude however Garden Street had a better discipline did pay off and they held the edge over their opponent .

The players of St Paul’s were upset at losing as well but their coach insisted they accept the loss graciously and shake hands with the Garden Street team .

The spectators applauded the good sportsmanship that was shown and everybody left the field in a good state of mind .

The Chef at St Paul’s had been informed there were 20 extra guests staying for a few days so he took the opportunity to show off his amazing artistic techniques with knives another utensils  and put on a show for the visitors by organising a mobile hot plate in the centre off the dining room .

As he started fire displays and juggling knives Mr Fingerton noticed a couple of young men wearing Martial  arts Gi’s who started to engage in combat beside the chef before disappearing from sight .

The visions that came always meant something and afterwards he would receive a confirmation to a story of the people he saw .

Over the weekend the  boys of Garden Street and St Paul’s Boarding school all became friends . The school bus was fixed and returned to Mr Fingerton who had the students back for school on Monday 

 

The  End