Other mothers

Scene: Rain.

I drove Lily to school, but stopped before the last turn to wait for another school's bus. I saw it as we came up the street and it still sat there as we pulled up to the intersection and stopped. A few kids were running to catch it and cars were backed up in both directions in front of us.

Then, I heard yelling. Over the rain, in my car, with the radio on and windows rolled up. Over the roar of the bus and the engines of the cars on the cross street. I knew there were kids along the street and I looked around quickly to see if something had happen.

I didn't see anything in the street, but to my immediate left, I noticed two cars in the parking lot less than 15 feet away. A little girl, about 6 or 7, was getting out of the back seat of the car closest to us, while the woman in the front (her mother?) was yelling at her. SCREAMING. "Get out of the car!" "Get on the bus!" "GO! GOOO!" The girl, only half out of the car, hesitated and hesitated, looking back and forth from the bus. Finally she got out, started towards the bus, then whipped around toward the front of the car- like she was afraid to cross the street alone. By this time, her mother had gotten out of the front to attend to something in the back. The girl saw her, stopped, and headed toward the back of the car instead. Her mother grabbed her, started SCREAMING again, spun her around, and dragged her around the front of the car. Still screaming and making wild gestures, she shoved her daughter, hard, toward the bus.

With a lump in my throat, I felt my eyes starting to water and I turned my head- I hated that mother. I wanted to get out of my car and hug the girl.

Don't look Lily.
Why?
That mommy is screaming at her little girl. I don't want you to get upset.
I'm not.
That doesn't make your heart hurt? My heart hurts seeing that.
Why?
I don't know.. it's hard to explain. Would you want someone screaming at you like that?
No. But my heart had its dinosaur suit on.
Oh! So that protects it?
Yeah!
That's a good idea, I should do that too.

The bus driver must have been watching, because I don't know why else she would have sat there that long- she was waiting for her last passenger. I really hope she gave that girl a huge smile and hello when she finally made it on the bus.. her heart must have hurt so bad..