“Meow”

With Pop-Tarts in hand the pre-K student struggled up the steps to the bus.  He looked at the package of Pop-Tarts and then at me and asked, “Can I eat these; I didn’t have time this morning?”  Well the bus rules strictly forbid eating or drinking on the bus so I looked into his little innocent face and said, “Sure, but I better not find any crumbs on the floor of my bus.”  With a grin on his face he started down the aisle to find a place to sit.  Within a few minutes he was back at my elbow, “Mr. Brandon, I don’t think I can eat these without getting a few crumbs on the floor.”  “I understand,” I told him. “But be careful and don’t get too many.”  Later he was back with a Pop-Tart in hand and said, “Here you go Mr. Brandon you can have this one.”  Not being a Pop-Tart fan I was not particularly interested but I assumed it was an offering of gratitude for letting him eat the other one on the bus, knowing that most likely there was a small mountain of Pop-Tart crumbs on the bus floor.  As he handed me the Pop-Tart he added, “It’s a super hero Pop-Tart.”  I looked at it and sure enough there was Catwomen.  I might have been able to turn down a Pop-Tart at any other time but a Catwomen Pop-Tart, I don’t think so.  I think you could market mud pies if they had a picture of Catwomen on them.  You put Catwomen on a Pop-Tart and that thing comes out of the package hot, no toaster needed.  Sorry, got a little side tracked, back to the story.  As we pulled onto the school grounds he was once again at my side waiting to get off the bus.  Knowing that students are supposed to wait till the bus has come to a complete stop before they line up, several of the students told him he should sit down.   The reply that he gave made clear to me I had been a pawn in a web of graft and corruption.  He said to them, “Its ok, I gave him a Pop-Tart.”  It turned out the Pop-Tart was a payoff, a bribe; my good reputation had been compromised for a place in the front of the line.  Now the other students addressed me, “Mr. Brandon he needs to sit down we haven’t stopped yet.”  I turned and looked at the driver’s side window where I had carefully stood a Pop-Tart.  Looking back at me was Catwomen, memories of Julie Newmar and Lee Meriwether flashed through my head and I said, “Its ok, he gave me a Pop-Tart.”  They say, “Every man has his price.”