Photo: Hadera, Israel
The bus rumbled on the narrow road, slow behind the loaded tractor wagon. A mix of diesel fumes, damp earth, and faint notes of orange blossoms wafted through the open crack in the heavy window.
They were going to be late. Again.
She sighed and glanced at her youngest sister, automatically feeling for the change-of-uniform she carried at the bottom of her school bag for the eventuality that her sister’s car-sickness would get the upper hand.
Across the narrow aisle, a woman coughed wetly into a handkerchief and shifted the plastic baskets that crowded the small space under her feet. Those will be packed full on the ride back from Hadera, their area’s shopping center and nearest ‘big’ town.
Finally, past Gan-Shmuel, the snailing tractor turned into a field and the bus picked up speed. Houses marked the city’s boundaries. She nudged her other sister awake. “We’re getting off soon.”
For What Pegman Saw: Hadera, Israel
Note: Depicting a very true (almost daily) childhood memory …
Na'ama Yehuda 
Car sickness. Oh. I bussed 15 miles a day… with motion sickness. so I can sympathise
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I hear ya … I’m not the best traveler, either, on buses or cars, at least, but I was so focused on my little sister (whom I was responsible for if she did throw up …) and on getting both her and my other sister to school from the bus stop and on whether we’d be late (again), that I think I was less aware of my own nausea. … No fun, though. The driver was usually nice enough. The people were fine. The buses were old. Everyone made do. But pleasant it was not …
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No, I can imagine. And so much responsibilty on you
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Yes, responsibility on older siblings was part of my upbringing. Some of it was good and probably helpful preparation for life, some of it was excessive and probably not so helpful. But, yeah, it was not fun. I realize, however, that many children all over the world have to travel distances that exceed comfort to school, and often times there are no good options. Whether there were better options in our case or not is a matter of discussion and debate … but it was a good school overall. The difficulties of getting there and the relative social isolation (no one from our town went to the same school as us – it was just the three of us), was a whole other issue. Always amazing to look back at such things.
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Yea. Easy at the time to accept this is the way it is. But later, to question that…
The past cannot be undone, so we look for the silver lining. In my case, I was travel sick going to school, but we had a great homework pool going on!
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Ah, kids are very resourceful aren’t they? 🙂
Ours was the public bus (not a school bus), and I never could read/write on the bus, but I think one of my sisters (the one who does not get motion sickness) did her homework en route. Me? Whenever I did not have to attend to others, I stared out the window and daydreamed. … which isn’t all that bad, considering … 😉
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My favourite occupation when travelling, even if it’s just to the next town
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Yep. Me three!
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🙂
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When I was a school girl, I used to throw up a lot during the bus rides from school to my home. Fortunately for me, it somehow went away. Reading this took me down the memory lane.
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Oy, Shweta … I’m sorry for the memories of car-sickness but am happy to know you’ve outgrown them … I think more children than people know of suffer with car-sickness but they don’t have another option but to put up with it because that is the only way to school … Thanks for reading and commenting!
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There’s no need to be sorry. Gave me a chance to truly appreciate how much I’ve grown since then. 😉
Yes, there’s no other way out of it. But I know adults who still haven’t outgrown it. So I guess I’m one of the lucky ones!
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I’m one of the adults who hadn’t … I get motion sickness in a car or a bus (though thankfully not on trains and not usually on airplanes), so I’m grateful for the medications that do a good job nipping any of it in the bud, because otherwise I’d be a miserable traveler … My sister did not outgrow it, either. Oh well … 😉
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..זיכרונות ילדות אמיתיים או כפי שנחרטו בנו… תמיד נוגעים ללב
תיאור התמונה חי כל כך ומעורר נושאים קרובים לרבים מאיתנו כמו יחסי אחאות, אחריות, בית ספר, איחורים,
…וכמובן נסיעות קשות יותר או פחות שמובילות לסוף המסע תשושים
..הזדהתי ונזכרתי וצחקתי וחשבתי בעיקר על תחושת אחריות הגורמת לפעמים לשכוח מעט מעצמך
!!אהבתי מאוד
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שמחה שדיבר אליך
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💚🤗💚
Adele Ryan McDowell, Ph.D.
AdeleRyanMcDowell.com Adeleandthepenguin.com MakingPeacewithSuicide.com Channeledgrace.com
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Thank you, Adele! So glad you liked this! XO
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The details in this elegant piece are splendid. I like how you use all five senses to really put us there, adding tension with the car sickness. Great writing!
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Thank you J! It had a LOT of daily memories to draw on … 😉
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How lovely to read such a well written snippet of your autobiography! I, too, suffered from travel sickness. It’s largely gone now, but I still struggle on boats. Some friends who liked sailing couldn’t believe I could feel sick on a boat, moored, in calm weather…And I find the medication worse than being seasick, so I just put up with it and avoid boats where possible!
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Thank you, Penny! I still suffer from motion-sickness on buses/cars, but I’ve learned to manage it (medication seems to help me, but it has drowsy side-effects I don’t appreciate, so it is mostly for daylong trips or times when I won’t have to have all my wits sharpened for work or some such), and I’m fortunate that trains and planes aren’t bad and subways are completely fine (whew, in NYC). I’ve been on not that many boats, but I’ve done okay in motion (speed boat between island and such or rowing or the ferry) but I’m not sure how I’d do in a rocking boat, let alone moored … (movement with no motion …). Oy.
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As Penny says, a great snippet Na’ama. Brings real colour to the scene, even with the travel sickness, it’s brought more to life. Me and my son both suffer from travel sickness, though we only feel a bit rough, neither of us have ever been sick. Well evoked
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Thank you, Lynn! It’s a real scene … from real life history … so perhaps it helps elucidate it, along with the reality that so many of us have some familiarity with travel sickness. Oy … I don’t get full out sick these days (didn’t often as a child, either, unlike my youngest sister, who’d literally get sick), but I do get queasy enough to mar the rest of my day … so I try to prevent it best I can. Life is fascinating, ain’t it?
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Sounds like my son and I – I’m not sick but certainly feel pretty rough for a few hours after. You told it very clearly 🙂
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🙂 Thank you, Lynn! May we have clearer memories of ice-cream on the beach with the sun on our bare skin than of icky-car-sick blah … 😉
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😄
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🙂
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Na’ama Y’karah,
I get the impression from the story and comments this is the voice of experience. I found myself gagging on the woman coughing wetly. Oy. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
https://rochellewisoff.com/2020/03/02/house-of-jacob/
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Very much the voice of experience … 😉 This was our way to school for quite some years. Travel sickness awareness included … (and some wet-coughs by fellow passengers …). Sorry about the gagging induction … OY indeed …
Hugs
Na’ama
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