The boy and the bell

Text 1: Bus Stopping, by Grace Whitlow

An original short story extract.

The little boy in the red wellingtons had discovered the bell. It was a silver button on the pole beside his pushchair, and every time he pressed it, the sign at the front of the bus lit up with the words BUS STOPPING and a cheerful ding sounded above our heads. His mother was busy talking on her phone. The driver pulled in at Elm Street, where nobody was waiting, and opened the doors. Nobody got off. He pulled in again at the library, and again outside the swimming baths. On the fourth stop he leaned round from his cab, saw the boy with his finger on the button, and raised his eyebrows. The mother looked up, went pink, and lifted her son on to her knee. The boy beamed at everyone, delighted, and the whole lower deck started to clap.

Explain why the driver keeps stopping where nobody gets off.