The Wrong Stop

Ages 12-15

Faige rides the bus home alone for the first time.

She has the seat behind the driver. She has said the stop to herself, the one with the bench and the red mailbox, and she is watching for the mailbox. There is a red mailbox. The bus does not stop.

The next stop has already gone by, and she is pressing the bell. The bus pulls in, and the doors fold open, and she steps down onto a pavement she has not seen before.

It is a long block back, with a hedge on one side. She walks along the edge of it. A dog watches her from a window. She does not know the houses.

At the corner she sees a bench. It is the bench.

She goes round the bench, and along her own road. The porch light is on, though it is not dark.

She goes up to her gate, and puts her hand on the latch.