The Traveling Band

The Traveling Band

Ralph Cramptin, the bus driver for the Greyhound bus that carries the chorus and band on the way to Bardstown, decided to take a scenic route on the way to that town, forgetting he didn’t have a map and the GPS on that particular bus was broken.

On the bus, the choir director, Bea Sharp, tried to give directions, but she relied on old information, since she hadn’t been to Bardstown since she graduated over 30 years ago.

As they took one wrong turn after another, they saw a sign directing them to Bardstown being nailed to a post by someone vaguely familiar to Ms. Sharp; she thought it might have been Letzall Singh, but how could he be out of jail so soon?

The bus driver took the turn indicated by the sign and the bus suddenly was on the road to Spearestown, which fortunately a trombone player recognized as the wrong turn, and then the bus turned around in the parking lot of the Busy Bee Cafe on the outskirts of Spearestown.

Out of the cafe ran Sam, the mayor’s son, yelling for the bus to stop.

Ralph, the bus driver, slammed on the brakes just in time before the bus ran over Sam, while all on the bus fell out of their seats and instruments fell into the aisles.

Sam jumped on the bus, pulled out a gun and directed Ralph to drive the bus to the Spearestown High School where he was holding a big shindig for his class reunion and needed the band and chorus for the entertainment as he didn’t have the money to hire any professionals having used the money raised by his classmates for his gambling debts.

Sam is tired of his father’s rule in town, and organized this class reunion, without prior approval from the school for use of the gym, to get revenge on his father who is also the school board chairman.

The Busy Bee Cafe manager spotted Sam hijacking the bus and called the police, who said they were too busy to come and help out, and while the manager was on the phone the bus motored away, Sam at the front with the gun at the driver’s head.

The bus sped down the streets through Spearestown toward the high school, band members and choral members finally getting back into their seats while Sam stands guard at the front telling them they have to perform a concert for his class reunion and it better be the best concert ever because he will be backstage with the choral director, Bea Sharp, as his hostage.

John Smith, the trombone player that figured out they were taking a wrong turn, whispers to the other brass players that they have to do something, so they get a cell phone and dial 911 and tell the operator what is happening on the bus, but tell the operator not to have the police follow the bus as Sam may try to shoot someone.

Meanwhile, back in Bardstown, the entire population is waiting for the missing Greyhound bus to appear.

Mayor Writon at 4:10 PM decides that some action is needed to find the missing bus, as he has pulled too many strings to get the best band and chorus in the country to celebrate the 21st decade of Bardstown, not to mention all the money he had to borrow from a payday loan company to get this accomplished

So Writon calls Sheriff O’Leary to investigate, but gets the run-around, and eventually O’Leary agrees to go out and about to find the missing bus, regardless of the time it may take and the danger that may be involved.

O’Leary can’t find his weapon, it being taken home by Deputy Fife some days ago for cleaning, so O’Leary has to go to Fife’s home, finds Fife in bed after eating too many corn dogs and cotton candy with a belly ache and high blood sugar, and Fife now cannot remember what happened to the weapon or the bullets.

Now O’Leary decides to just head out, look for the missing bus and take along some pepper spray as a weapon, drive over to Spearestown on a whim, taking the back roads, and while traveling gets the 911 call that tells him that indeed the bus is in Spearestown and Sam, the Spearestown mayor’s son, is holding the bus hostage.

The brass players on the bus, the trombone player, tuba player, coronet player, French horn player, all start playing to distract the others from the danger as they motor toward the high school and the choral members join in song. Percussion members with the bass drum, the snare drums, the cymbals, the bells, all join in and soon the woodwinds section start to play the clarinets, the flutes, the saxes, the piccolos, and the noise on the bus is so loud Sam is distracted from the job of keeping the bus driver on the road.

Sam suffers from PTSD and loud noises distract him from anything he is doing, so now he drops the gun that was pointed at the bus driver’s head and falls to the floor of the bus, holding his hands over his ears.

The bus driver breathes a big sigh of relief, and is able to turn around and start driving the bus toward Bardstown, the original destination, as the band and chorus keep up the cacophony that helps to keep Sam incapacitated on the floor.

Sheriff O’Leary intercepts the bus as it heads toward Bardstown; he boards the bus, sees Sam on the floor and puts handcuffs on Sam as he hears the story of how the chorus and the band overwhelmed Sam with music, which is music to the sheriff’s ears and all arrive back in Bardstown for the Founder's Day celebration while Sam is put in the hospital psych ward for observation while his charges pend further investigation.

* 21 sentences *