by Shannon Cook
“What won't start?”
“That damn bus!” Marcel was livid! He put so many hours into that thing for it and was aggravated that the bus wouldn't start! Even with a new engine and starter!
Dick got up from his chair, “Let me take a look at it,” he calmly said as he began to make his way to the garage. He got into the driver's seat and played around with the key in the ignition switch. The engine would crank, but wouldn't start. He tried turning the key again and hitting the accelerator. Nothing. “Why won't you start,” he asked aloud.
“You're not doing it right,” an unseen Casey replied.
“Marcel! I know how to start a fucking vehicle, okay!” Dick snapped. “Don't tell me I'm not doing it right!”
Marcel walked over to the bus's driver's window. “I didn't say anything,” he said with confusion.
“If you didn't,” Dick paused for a moment. “Who did?”
“Turn on the windshield wipers, then turn on the headlights,” Casey had now appeared in the seat directly behind the driver's seat where Dick was sitting. “Turn the windshield wipers on full speed first, then turn on the headlights while you turn the key and hit the accelerator. Do those last three things simultaneously!” Casey demanded.
“That is ridiculous!” Dick laughed nervously. Then his face became pale. He slowly glanced over to the mirror to monitor the passenger area of the bus. To his dismay, Casey's spirit was sitting directly behind him! He was so frightened, he couldn't even scream! Frozen in fear!
“Do it!” Casey demanded!
Shaken, Dick did exactly what Casey instructed him to do. To his amazement, the bus started right up! “Who'd knew?” He turned to thank Casey's spirit behind him, but Casey had vanished. He let the bus run for a few minutes before backing it out of the garage, and into its parking spot on the sales lot. “There we go,” Dick grinned. “You are going to make me some good money!” He turned off the bus and went back into his office.
Another month went by and Jayme was still having no luck finding a new job.
Nor was Dick having any luck selling that bus. Or any vehicle off his lot! Customers were getting scared away by the spirits trapped within the bus! “I need to get rid of that thing!” Dick said to himself. He decided it would be best for himself and his company if he just pulled that bus into his junkyard and let it rot. He couldn't afford to lose any more customers!
Dick relentlessly grabbed the bus keys and slowly made his way to the haunted bus. He got into the driver's seat of the bus and fired it up. Angrily removing and ripped up the price sticker from the windshield. “I should've junked you!” he snarled.
“The only trash in this bus is you!” Irwin snarled back.
“You aren't any better, Irwin,” Casey responded.
Dick was frozen! He slowly turned his body to look at the seats behind him. “Who's in here?!” his voice was quivering. The bus was empty. He turned back around. His heart was pounding out of his chest! The bus was empty, but he knew he wasn't alone. He put the bus into gear and proceeded to pull the bus out of its space.
Before he could get the bus halfway out of its space, he noticed a man walking in his direction. Dick stopped the bus, turned it off, and went over to greet the man. “How may I help you, sir?” he asked. “I'm Dick, the owner of this establishment.”
“I'm Luke,” Luke replied. “I'm looking for a vehicle for my son,” he informed Dick. “A pickup truck to be exact.”
Dick smiled. “You've come to the right place!" The two men walked alongside each other as Dick attempted to show Luke all the pickup trucks in the lot. “This one here has only fifty-two thousand miles on it, no accidents, one owner!” He noticed Luke wasn't paying much attention to him. “Are you listening?” he asked.
Luke was in a trance, staring across the lot at the bus. “Actually,” he said as he began to walk towards the bus. “Can I take a look at that bus?”
Dick was surprised! “Of course!” he said with enthusiasm! This made him thrilled that someone was interested in taking a look at that bus! “Maybe I will make a profit on that thing!” he thought to himself.
When Dick and Luke got to the bus, Luke began asking him tons of questions! Especially when they stepped on board and Luke noticed a few blood stains on the ceiling. “Are those bloodstains?!” Luke was startled!
Dick looked up. “Oh, no,” he lied, fearing to lose another customer. “We had it tested. It's not blood,” he lied again. He was starting to become nervous. Kicking himself for not trying harder to remove those stains from the ceiling!
“Has this bus ever been involved in an accident?”
“Accident-free,” Dick lied again. “As far as I'm aware,”
“How many miles?”
Dick didn't know that answer off the top of his head. He sat down in the driver's seat and started up the bus. Luke noticed all the steps Dick took to get the engine to start. The diesel engine roared! Luke covered his ears. “IS THIS THING ALWAYS THIS LOUD?” he asked loudly trying to talk over the noisy engine.
“GIVE IT A MINUTE!” Dick answered, yelling over the engine noise. After a minute, the diesel engine noise became quieter. “There we go, see?”
Luke was a bit suspicious. “What was all that nonsense you did there to get the thing to start?”
Dick chuckled. “Oh, that?” he said. “Just a little manufacturer defect! That's why this bus's original owner got rid of it," he wasn't going to tell a potential buyer the truth of why that bus was the way it was.
“You never answered my question,” Luke stated.
“What was it again?”
“How many miles are on it?”
Dick looked at the odometer, and replied, “It has a very low 250 miles on it.”
Luke was even more suspicious. It just didn't make any sense! How could a low mileage bus be in such horrible shape? “I'll have to think about this,” he told Dick.
“Alright,” Dick replied. “Just don't think about it too long, this bus isn't going to remain on the lot for long.”
Luke sighed. “How much is it?”
“How much are you willing to offer?”
“Twenty-five thousand?”
Dick laughed at the offer. “Twenty-five thousand?” he replied. “This bus is practically brand new!” He shook his head. “I'm sorry, sir, but I can't accept such a low amount for this bus.”
“How about seventy thousand?” Luke sighed.
“Seventy-five,” Dick countered.
“Seventy-two thousand. Take it or leave it!” Luke countered back.
Dick reached out his hand for a handshake. “Deal!” Dick smiled. “Come to my office and we'll take care of the paperwork!”
After a couple of hours, all the paperwork was complete! Dick faxed over information to the auto bureau. Moments later, someone called Dick. It was someone from the auto bureau. They noticed the VIN matched the bus's VIN that was involved in the horrific crash on the mountains.
“Good afternoon, sir, this is Sally from this auto bureau," the lady on the phone greeted.
“Good afternoon, Sally,” Dick covered up the phone. “Can you give me a minute?" he asked Luke. “If you could, could you just step out into the hall for a moment? My apologies, I've been waiting for this call for a while and I need to take it.”
“No problem,” Luke said as he got up and walked out of Dick's office.
“Alright, how may I help you?” Dick asked Sally.
“Dick, it appears that you are attempting to sell a vehicle that had been classified as a total loss!”
“That bus was not totaled,” he told Sally. “The frame is still road safe, and all it needed was a little tender loving care! The bus is like new now and drives like a charm!” Dick never actually took the bus out on the road for a test run after the repairs.
“Ugh,” Sally huffed! She had enough of Dick making profits off of vehicles that had been totaled out! “If I get any reports of that bus being reported as totaled again in the next month, I will
have the police after you!” she threatened.
“If it doesn't, then you owe me a date!” Dick replied. Secretly, he had the hots for Sally, but Sally despised him!
“We'll see about that!” Sally snapped. “I'll have the tags ready shortly,” she said as she slammed the phone back on its receiver.
“You can come back in now!” Dick yelled.
Luke entered back into Dick's office.
“My apologies again,” Dick stated. “Important business call I've been waiting for. They call at such bad times!” He offered Luke a cup of coffee and the two men sat and chatted for fifteen minutes.
“When can I pick up the bus?” Luke asked.
“As soon as I come back from the auto bureau with the tags,” Dick replied.
Luke smiled. “Perfect!” he said. “I'll call my wife and son to come and drive my vehicle back! It'll take them three hours to get here,” he informed Dick.
Dick was appalled! “Three hours?!” he asked. “Why so long?”
“We live three hours away,” Luke replied. “Yes, I could've shopped closer to home, but for some odd reason, I was drawn here.” Luke looked confused. “I have no idea why,” he said as he looked into Dick's eyes. “I never heard of this place!”
Dick thought to himself, could that haunted bus have something to do with Luke coming to his sales lot? He turned around and looked out his office window at the bus sitting outside. “You are more powerful than I can ever comprehend,” Dick softy said towards the bus.
Luke overheard Dick, “What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” Dick turned around. “Come with me when I go pick up your new bus's tags!” He grabbed his jacket, his car keys and the two men exited the building.
While they were walking towards Dick's vehicle, Dick's brother, Marcel, pulled in. “Give me a moment,” Dick asked Luke. “This is my brother." He walked over to Marcel's vehicle and Marcel rolled down his driver's window.
“Hi, Dick,” Marcel said as he handed over two vehicle tags.
“Hi,” Dick responded. “What's this?” he asked as he took the tags out of Marcel's hands.
“Sally at the auto bureau gave these to me to give to you when I was there,” Marcel stated. “I had to renew my tow truck's registration.”
Dick was disappointed. He wanted to go to the auto bureau to pick up the tags! Not that he enjoyed doing business there, he just wanted to see Sally! “Why must you always ruin things for me?”
“Ruin things?” Marcel asked. “I was only trying to,” he paused. Then laughed. “I get it now!” he laughed even harder. “You have a crush on Sally, don't you?”
“Absolutely not!” Dick got defensive! “Now go back to your shop!”
Marcel laughed and pulled away.
“I guess we don't need to go pick up the tags anymore,” Dick stated. “I'm going to put these on the bus, if you want, there is a nice diner about two miles down the road, if you want to get some food while you wait for your ride.” Dick didn't want Luke hanging around his establishment for too long. He was afraid that if he hung around, he would find out that the bus he just purchased was haunted before he pulled it off the lot!
Luke nodded. “I am a bit hungry, thank you," he said.
“See you after a while,” Dick replied as Luke headed to his car and took off.
For the next three hours, Dick tried tirelessly to try to remove the stains from the ceiling. He got most of it out, but he was unable to get it all out. “Alright, you spirits,” he said. “You better not scare this man!”
Casey manifested himself right in front of Dick. Dick stood in fear as he stared at the ghostly man! His legs and hands trembled in fear! “Don't hurt me,” he pleaded!
“There's a reason Luke bought this bus,” Casey informed Dick. “We won't be scaring him away!” Casey winked and vanished.
Dick ran off that bus as quickly as he could and rushed back into his office.
A few minutes later, Luke returned and stood outside waiting for his wife and son. Dick came out to greet him. “Have a good meal?” he asked.
“Wonderful!” Luke replied. “Thank you for telling me about that place.”
“When is your family coming?”
“Any minute now.”
The two men made small talk as they waiting for Luke's wife and son to arrive. After ten minutes, Luke's wife, Georgina pulled in.
“There they are!”
Georgina parked their car and she and Myles, their son, Myles, came running over to Luke full of enthusiasm! “Which truck is mine, father?” he asked.
Luke put his arm around Myles' shoulder and began walking with him. “You know son, there are going to be moments in your life where things don't go the way you wanted,”
Myles interrupted his father. “You didn't get me a truck, did you?”
“I'm sorry, son,”
Myles pulled away and began shouting at his father. “You are so selfish! You never get me anything!” He screamed! He rushed back over towards his mother.
Georgina gave her husband a degusted glance. “I thought we agreed you were vehicle shopping for Myles!” she snapped. “What exactly did you buy?”
Luke smiled and pointed at the bus. “That!”
“You bought a bus?!” Georgina snapped. “Doesn't that bus company you just bought have enough buses?”
Luke shrugged. “Always good to have a spare,” he replied.
Georgina rolled her eyes. “You're impossible!” she snapped. “Come on Myles, you can drive my car home," she said as she handed her son her car keys. “I'll drive your idiot father's car home!”
“Hey!” Luke snapped.
Dick was getting uncomfortable with the tension going on between Luke and Georgina. “I'm going back inside, it was a pleasure to meet you all,” he softly said as he walked away.
“Let's just go!” Georgina snapped. As she stomped off to her husband's car.
Luke deeply sighed. He got on the bus and started it. Doing exactly what Dick instructed him to do. Once they were all in the vehicles they were driving home, they left Dick's sale's lot.
It was a long drive home. They decided the quickest way would be to travel through the mountains. When Luke approached a sharp turn, the same turn where the bus had crashed, he felt the bus begin to pull towards a newly replaced guard rail. He had to use all his strength to keep that bus in his lane! Once he got past that spot, the bus stopped pulling to the side. “That was odd!” he said to himself!
The rest of the ride was uneventful. He managed to get his newly purchased bus to his bus garage and had his wife take him home. She was still angry with him!
VI
That weekend, Jayme was pondering rather or not to return to work on Monday. She tried to find another job, but there wasn't much opportunity out there that would pay her as much as she was making driving a bus! “It's pointless!” she sighed as she scrolled through her phone trying to search for a new job.
“Nothing interests you?” Robin asked her wife.
Jayme shook her head. “Nothing,” she responded.
Robin reached over and took her wife's phone out of her hand. “Give it a rest, my dear,” she said. She took a seat next to her on the couch and cuddled up close. “How about a movie?” she recommended.
“Sounds good!” Jayme replied with enthusiasm! She needed to get her mind on something else!
Robin turned on the television and they searched through all the movies that were on at that moment. “Alright, comedy, romance, or horror?”
“It's been a while since I've watched a good horror movie!” Jayme smiled.
Robin selected one of the horror movies and they began watching. For the next couple hours, the two young ladies jumped in horror, screamed, hid under a blanket, and held each other close!
When the movie ended, they glanced at each other. The movie was a bit more terrifying than they were expecting! “Sleep with the lights on tonight?” Robin asked.
“Definitely!”
&nbs
p; The next morning, Jayme went to work at the bus garage. When she pulled into the driveway she said to herself, “I don't want to be here," as she sat in her vehicle in the parking lot. She got out of her vehicle and went into the dispatch building.
“Good morning, Jayme!” Alma said cheerfully. “How's Burke doing?” Alma has been the dispatcher to that bus company for ten years. She was upset when Burke retired and sold the company, but she knew it was for the best. She too didn't like the new owner, just like Jayme.
“He's doing alright,” Jayme smiled. “He's taking a vacation in Paris right now!”
“How wonderful!” Alma replied. “Here's your bus keys, tell your lovely wife I said hi!”
“I will!” Jayme took her keys and made her long walk to her bus. “How can I quit?” she thought. Yes, she disliked Luke, the new owner, but she loved coming to work and seeing Alma. She always had funny stories and good advice! She got to her bus and began her morning run.
Over at the mechanic shop of the bus company, Luke was showing Blake the bus he just picked up. “I need this bus ready to go by this afternoon!” Luke informed his mechanic. “I need you to get the lettering on this thing and give it the number, 340.”
Blake nodded, “Absolutely, sir,” he replied. He opened the driver's door and tried starting the bus up, but it wouldn't start. “Um, sir!” He yelled over to his boss.
Luke huffed and walked over to the driver's window. “What is it?”
“It won't start!”
“Get out,” Luke instructed. Once Blake was out of the bus, Luke climbed in and showed Blake what it takes to start that bus. “Pay attention!” He snapped. “First, turn the windshield wipers on full speed, then turn the key partway, wait for that light on the dash to turn off. Turn the key the rest of the way, hold down the accelerator and turn on the headlights simultaneously.”
Blake gave his boss a confused look. “Is this a joke?” he asked.
Luke shook his head. “I'm serious,” he responded in a serious tone.
