Bus Driver Kicks Sleeping Man Out into the Cold, Gets Home and Sees Him Again — Story of the Day

A bus driver in a hurry to get home kicked a sleeping man out into the cold; imagine his dismay when he gets home and finds the same man there.

Larry, a bus driver, was running late. He needed to be home because his daughter Cindy was going to introduce him and his wife to her fiancé — his name was Justin.

Larry had always dreamed of his daughter getting married, but the girl had always been focused on getting good grades and reaching the height of her career as a ballerina.

"When will you bring me a man I can drink beer with?" Larry would often ask her.

"I'm creating one, don't worry papa," she would wittingly reply to him even though there was nobody.

Now that she had finally come forward with a man, Larry was running late. His bus, a long 24-seater, could not reach high speeds, and he still had two other stops to make.

"Shante is going to kill me," Larry muttered as he stopped at a red light and checked his watch.

His wife Shante had advised him to take the day off, but he refused because he did not want to be cooped up doing nothing all day. He smiled to himself because he knew she had been right — again.

As he reached his last bus stop, the last of the passengers alighted except one. It was a man who looked to be in his late twenties; he was dressed expensively, and at first glance, seemed to be sleeping.

"We've reached the last bus stop, sir," Larry said loudly.

When he got no reply, he stepped onto the bus and walked to where the man was slumped in his seat. A more careful inspection revealed a broken bottle of wine at his feet.

Larry scrunched up his nose at the sickly sweet smell of the wine. "Must have been good stuff," he thought as he reached for the man.

"Wake up!" he exclaimed as he shook the man.

There was no response, and Larry was only too conscious of the time. After he took one more look at his watch, he decided to get him out of the bus and be on his way.

It was not easy; the man seemed to weigh a ton. By the time Larry moved him to the door, he was out of breath. As soon as he could, he pushed the unconscious man through the bus doors, and he fell in a heap in front of the bus stop.

Larry was annoyed by the stress and the fact that he would now have to clean the bus earlier than he usually had to, so he simply left the man where he fell. He needs to sleep it off anyway, Larry thought.

When he arrived home, Larry was expecting to things to be in full swing, but nothing was happening. His wife was in the kitchen trying to preserve their already cold dinner.

"I'm so sorry Shante," he began, but she shushed him and gestured at their daughter Cindy.

"What's wrong baby?" Larry asked his daughter, immediately understanding what his wife meant.

"I've been trying to reach Justin for more than an hour now but I've not been able to," she said.

"Maybe he's driving?" Larry asked.

"No," Cindy replied. "He left his car and asked how to get to us by public transport."

"Maybe he went to a bar and got drunk?"

"No, Justin doesn't drink. But I asked him to buy a bottle of wine for us."

A few hours later, Cindy's phone rang. Larry took one look at the screen and turned pale. The caller ID read "my love," but the picture was of the drunk man he had dislodged from his bus.

Cindy picked up the call excitedly, and Larry watched her face fall dramatically. By the time she dropped the phone, her eyes were glassy with tears.

"What's wrong baby?" Shante asked.

"That was the hospital. Justin is in intensive care. He had a diabetic crisis and passed out. The nurse said he was brought in by an elderly lady who had caught sight of him and called the ambulance.

The news made Larry depressed. He felt an immense guilt run through him, realizing what he had done to Justin. The whole time in the hospital with Cindy, he was downcast and couldn't look his daughter in the eye. Thankfully, the doctors told them nothing was damaged, and after a few days, Justin returned home with them.

Larry consciously avoided spending time alone with the young man because of his guilt. He had not been able to tell anyone except his wife.

"You should come clean to them both," she told him on the night he revealed it to her.

"I know but what if I do a terrible job of it? I don't want to be the one to ruin things between my daughter and her husband-to-be."

"It will be just fine, you'll see," Shante reassured him.

Days passed, but Larry only seemed to get creative with coming up with excuses why he could not come clean. Then one day, he got so distracted while driving the bus that he forgot to stop at a red light, thereby colliding head-on with a car at an intersection.

The damages were quite extensive, but the vehicle owner escaped uninjured, and Larry was fined a large amount for covering the damages. When he told Shante about it, she once again came to his rescue by calming him down. There was no blame or finger-pointing, just acceptance of what had happened.

"You can sell my jewelry to get enough money to pay that fine honey but you have to come clean right after," she told him that day.

When Cindy found out about the fine and how her father was getting rid of it, she was saddened. Justin asked her what had happened, and she revealed what she knew.

"Don't be sad, I'll take care of it," he had simply told her.

Justin approached Larry and offered to cover all the costs he incurred, after which the older man burst into tears. He proceeded to confess his wrongdoing and asked for forgiveness.

"I would most likely have done the same thing in your place," Justin told him.

"You would?"

"Absolutely sir, and if I may suggest, let's keep this between us. There's no need for Cindy to know the details, it may upset her and in turn, the baby."

Larry's eyes went round as saucers at the news. "You're having a child?" he asked Justin.

"We didn't want to tell you until we knew the sex but yes we are," the man said proudly. Larry could not believe it; his own grandchild was already on the way.

"Come, we should celebrate," he said as he left Justin to find his wife. They had a great dinner that night, and for he first time in weeks, Larry slept soundly, his past aggressions behind him.

What did we learn from this story?

• Communication is important. Married people are in a union that will only work when both parties have no problem communicating, for instance, Larry and Shante. Those two surmounted issues as a couple; Larry did nothing without her knowing and vice versa. That is the true model of companionship.
• Be sensitive to others' plight. Larry saw the broken wine bottle and immediately concluded that the man had been drinking and passed out when in truth, Justin had been unconscious due to health complications. Larry could have helped him, but because he was running late, he had simply cast the unconscious man aside. He regretted that action later when he had to face his mistake.

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