The Long, Strange Trip of Augie Stone

(Another class-sourced novel)

by 

Jay C. Rehak et al

(c) 2016

 Ordinarily, school field trips were worth a laugh.  But on that frigid Chicago February morn, Augie Stone's day started off completely wrong.  His US History class was scheduled to take a field trip down to the state capital in Springfield, so Augie had to wake up early and drag himself to the west side by 6:30.  He woke up in a bad mood, and his mother had further irritated him by presenting him with a new pair of wool pants.

“As I’ve told you, mother, I won’t be wearing anything you buy for me now or ever, so please quit buying me clothes. You’ll only have to bring them back,” Augie said with a hiss in his voice.

“I just thought you’d look nice in them,” she had responded.

“What part of ‘I won’t wear anything you buy me’ don’t you understand?” Augie said with great exasperation.

“Well, you’d better hurry or you’ll be late,” his mother answered, clearly hurt as she folded the pants in her arms.

Augie grabbed his phone, headphones and a banana and ran out the door to catch the train to school.  The cold air hit his face like a thousand needles and he actively considered turning back and blowing off the field trip he had worked to pay for.  He moaned his way to the train and sat alone, shivering and resenting his mother for not listening to him. When he arrived at school, he saw a line forming at the bus and he grunted his way to the front.  He was popular enough in school to get away with cutting in line; what he desperately wanted was to get to the back of the bus and be left alone.  He didn’t want to talk to anybody; he just wanted to listen to music and sleep.

Twenty-five of his sophomore classmates filed into the bus, with many finding a seat for themselves.  A few people paired off and sat together, but for the most part, the students, like Augie, just wanted to sleep through the three and a half hour ride to Springfield.  Maybe on the way back he’d couple off with someone and talk, but at 6:30 in the morning, no one had anything useful to say, as far as he was concerned.  He included himself in that assessment.

As the bus pulled away from the school, Augie turned up his headphones and listened to some ancient Paul Simon, music he had discovered recently that didn’t irritate him.  He absentmindedly chose the songs of There Goes Rhymin’ Simon and kicked back and tried to go to sleep. Afterwards, Augie remembered he was listening to “Learn How to Fall” when it happened.

An hour into the ride the bus hit some ice and almost slithered off the road.  Those who were sleeping were abruptly awoken.  A few students let out yelps of immediate concern.  A few anxious moments later, virtually everyone was back asleep.

Somewhere just past Bloomington, the bus again hit a huge patch of hidden black ice.  The driver veered quickly to his right and then to his left.  Screams came from everywhere. Augie leaped up just as Paul Simon was singing, “....you've got to drift in the breeze, before you set your sail.” A moment later, the bus was tumbling into a ditch.  The bus seemed to roll over three times before it came to a rest.  It all seemed to happen in slow motion even as it actually happened quite quickly. Augie looked around and saw blood everywhere and his classmates in various contortions.  Stunned, Augie looked to his left and saw the emergency door at the back of the bus and instinctively put his shoulder into it.  It didn’t open, as it had been crushed on its way down the ditch.  He kept banging his shoulder into the door, convinced that it was in his best interest to get out of the bus as soon as possible.  As he banged away, he realized his legs were in tremendous pain and his arms were not aligned as they should be.

With one final push against the door, it opened and Augie breathed a strange sigh of relief and satisfaction.  He looked to his right and saw many of his classmates still unconscious. He considered his next move but before he could act he felt himself spinning.  The last thing he remembered was the very weird sensation of his stomach and the rest of him falling, falling, falling.

When he woke up, if he woke up (he wasn’t sure) he felt himself strung up and in what he thought was a body cast.  He felt tubes in his throat but he had no capacity to talk or even make the motion with his mouth to indicate discomfort.  He wasn’t sure where he was and at first he couldn’t understand the noise that seemed to surround him.  It sounded like muffled voices, but he wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or actually hearing the sound of people talking.  In a few moments, he was back asleep.  As he slept, all he kept thinking was, “Momma, I’m sorry. I’ll wear the pants if you want me to.”

And then his mind went blank.