Telling it Her Way

    

Memories of my daughters' school days and bus riding always brings to mind this particular story. It must have been a day when there were no after-school activities, so I was still at the lab and the girls would have taken their respective buses home. When I called home to check in, Sarah answered the phone and told me about her day. Then the following conversation took place:

     “Mom, you know when the bus turns off of our road, there's an extra lane for a while?”

     “Sarah, tell me everyone is okay and then tell me what happened.”

     “There's a lane when you turn right off of our road that then merges with the road?”

     “Sarah! Tell me everyone is okay!”

     “The bus this morning turned – you know that lane, Mom?”

     “Sarah Beth! You know the rules! Is everyone okay?
     “Mom! Let me tell the story my way!”

     The rules were that if there was a car/vehicular accident that either girl wanted to talk about, and everyone was okay, then the story has to begin with the announcement that everyone was all right before putting the listener through the agony of wondering who got hurt and how badly.

     But apparently new rules were evolving, ones involving storytelling. And Sarah wanted to emphasize her need to tell her story her own way!

     I had to give in, listen patiently while holding the phone, and trust that everyone was all right. (One day I told this story at a workshop and stopped at this point – the people in the workshop were almost hostile toward me as more than one of them said, “Well, was everyone all right?”)

     Yes, everyone was okay.

     When the bus had turned right off of our street that morning and was in the lane that merged with Atkinson, it ran into a car stalled in the lane. I don't think it did any damage to the car – just nudged it before the bus driver saw it sitting there. But it was excitement enough for the kids on the bus. Everyone was all right, and Sarah shared the story.

     This picture is of Sarah from the very first time she signed up for open mike at the Magnolia Storytelling Festival in Roswell, Georgia years after the bus incident – I think it was 2001, so she was almost 17. Sarah told the story of Jack and the Purple Bogies – a tale she had first heard from the wonderful nationally known storyteller, Jim May.

     But as you might imagine – we all let her tell the story her way!

192 Telling the Story Her Way