At the bus stop a little while ago, Carrie (now in the second grade) was wearing a red, fur-tinged cloak. Maybe Halloween came early this year. My first thought was to sing Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs' "Little Red Riding Hood."

Little Red Riding Hood
You sure are lookin' good
You're everything that a big bad wolf could want…
Owwooo!

Yeah, then I reminded myself she's a second grader and I immediately felt creepy just for thinking it. So I moved on to a backup thought: "She looks like an extra from The Village".

So The Chicken rides the bus to school, right? The bus stop has one primal rule for who stands where in line: no saving spots.

There are two sisters at the bus stop: Carrie and Deliah. Carrie's a first grader, Deliah is a second grader. Carrie likes to wander around and play. Deliah prefers a good spot in line.

Almost every day, Carrie will try to use her backpack to save a spot in line right behind Deliah while she plays until the bus arrives. Deliah always tosses Carrie's backpack off to the side and reminds Carrie, "No saving spots!" All the other girls at the bus stop (and it's only girls - Chicken is the only boy at this stop) repeat this mantra. "No saving spots!"

This always makes Carrie cry, but it doesn't stop her from trying to save a spot the next day.

This morning things were different. Carrie stayed in line and Deliah wandered off. Deliah returned to find her backpack thrown to the side and the platoon of girls reminding her, "No saving spots!"

This time it was Deliah who wandered off to cry.

Carrie just had to rub it in as much as possible. She spent several minutes giggling and throwing snowballs at her older sister. From her spot in line, of course.