As the temperature dropped,
we filled buckets and
poured water on the road.
A better plan
had never been designed.
Ice on the asphalt,
we knew,
meant the school bus
would never be safe.
Unsafe conditions
were what we needed most.
Trip after trip,
relay after relay,
we ensured the slickness
of the street.
Our scheme was
foolproof.
No school bus could
survive the frozen
wasteland
that was our neighborhood.
No bus driver
in his right mind
would risk it.
Mr. Johnson would
have to make the call.
The drifts weren’t enough,
we were certain.
The blizzard
coming in from Wisconsin,
blown across Lake Michigan,
needed our guidance.
We couldn’t trust nature
to do what had to be
done.
The weekend
was for sledding, skiing,
skating.
A Monday in our desks
would be such a waste.
Who could blame us?
We would be hailed as
heroes.
A three-day weekend
at the end of January.
For all the kids in town,
Terrier Lane would be a
tundra.
For all of the kids in town,
we were bringing
freedom and peace.
In Monday morning math class,
we couldn’t comprehend
what went wrong.
Our infallible plot
had failed.
Our valiant effort was forgotten.
I guess we didn’t use enough
water.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andre F. Peltier is a Lecturer III at Eastern Michigan University where he has taught African American Literature, Afrofuturism, Science Fiction, Poetry, and Freshman Composition since 1998. He lives in Ypsilanti, MI, with his wife, children, turtles, dog, and cat. His poetry has appeared in Big Whoopie Deal, In Parentheses, Griffel Magazine, Fahmidan Journal, The Write Launch, and Tofu Ink and is forthcoming in The Great Lakes Review, La Piccioletta Barca, Prospectus, Sledgehammer, Melbourne Culture Corner, The JFA Human Rights Journal, Spillover Mag, and an anthology from Quillkeepers Press. In his free time, he obsesses about soccer and comic books.