School Days

I went to my niece's house the other day to fix her screen door and forgot that school started already. She was getting ready to drive her boy up to the bus stop which is 3 streets over, he's a second grader now. He was all anxious and excited " Come on,hurry up or I'll be late." She said he really likes school, I was the complete opposite when I went to grade school.My mom would make sure I was properly dressed,had my supplies and was ready to go each morning and I kept thinking " Is this trip really necessary?" I would play sick every chance I got,probably claimed every illness you can think of and some days I would just ditch school altogether. I had to find some place to hide for 6 hours because back then you couldn't just wander around during school hours. If a cop saw you he would rat you out to the truant officer and you would get hauled back to school and they would call your parents. Even strangers would poke their nose into your affairs " Why aren't you at school?" You could always reply " Why aren't you at work you bum?" That would shut them up. When you started seeing school buses at the end of the day you knew it was time to head on home. When you walked in the house the old lady would ask " How was school?" and you would say " Fine " but think to yourself " A hell of a lot better than yesterday when I was actually there."