Pat turned on the bus radio to see if any storms were predicted for the area. It didn't take long to find a station with the news on it. It seemed like all of the stations were broadcasting the same news conference.
Reporter: "Professor Clemens, is there any danger to the people on earth from the black hole?"
Professor Clemens: "None what so ever. The black hole is far enough away that we will feel very few effects from it if any. It will be millions of miles away at its closest point."
Reporter: "Why has the scientific community become so focused on this black hole if it will have little effect on earth?"
Professor Clemens: "This event will further our knowledge of black holes greatly. Never has a black hole been close enough to earth to study it as we can now."
Reporter: "Why haven't we heard about the black hole until this morning?"
Professor Clemens: "We know very little about black holes and we had no idea of the speed of it and we really didn't know that they moved about the universe so rapidly. This black hole moved within our solar system in a matter of days and it is, at this moment, rapidly moving away from earth and heading back into space."
Reporter: "There have been reports that the sky has a different look. Can you explain that?"
Professor Clemens: "Black holes suck all matter into it, even light. A little of earth's light is being lost to the black hole. Naturally the sun will replace any light lost in a matter of milliseconds."
Reporter: "Is there any danger of our sun being sucked into the black hole?"
Professor Clemens: "No. The sun is many, many millions of miles from the black hole and the pull of the black hole. The black hole will have absolutely no effect on the sun."
Pauline got on the bus and stood next to the driver's seat listening to the radio. After awhile the reporter's questions began to get silly and Pat turned off the radio.
"I haven't had the radio on for the last couple of days; I had no idea that they had discovered a black hole close to earth," Pauline said.
"Well, they say there's nothing to worry about. At least we know why the sky looks so funny," Pat smiled.
Pauline sat down in the seat behind him, "I thought that I'd come out and keep you company. Anna has been giving you a hard time and I wanted to make sure you weren't about to choke her."
"Anna, is that the shrew?"
Pauline laughed, "I guess that's one way of describing her. She's not so bad though. She's an excellent teacher but she hates men. She was probably hurt once and has never gotten over it."
"I just wish she'd get off my case. She's not my type."
Pauline pointed to his wedding band, "Doesn't your wife hate these trips that you have to take?"
Pat took his wedding band off and threw it out of the bus window, "As of yesterday my marriage is over. This bus trip is my last trip for the company. My father-in-law will fire me as soon as I get back for divorcing his princess."
Pauline looked uncomfortable, "I'm sorry. I wouldn't have brought it..."
"Don't worry about it. It's been over for a couple of years now. It's time to move on."
"If you're going to be out of a job what are you going to do for a living?"
Pat looked at Pauline, "I'll do what I always wanted to do. I wanted to be a high school science teacher. Bess, my wife, talked me into working for her father after I got out of college. Her father and I got along like oil and water from the start. I guess that he doesn't appreciate some man having sex with his little girl."
Pauline laughed and Pat sheepishly said, "I'm sorry Pauline. I shouldn't have said that."
"Driving a bus is such a waste of your education. I'd love to see what kind of teacher you'd make."
"I think that I'd make a good teacher," Pat said, "I'm going to give it my best efforts. I want to make a difference in young people's lives."
"I'm sure that you'll be a great teacher," Pauline said as the first of the students got on the bus.
Before resuming the bus trip, Pat took a head count. There was one person missing. Several of the girls shouted the name Brenda and Pat looked toward the restaurant and saw a slightly overweight girl running for the bus with a six-pack of soda in one hand and a bag in the other.
After everyone was seated Pat put the bus in gear and started onto the highway. Several of the girls were trying to get some sleep. The main topic of conversation among the adults was the black hole.
After the bus had traveled about ten miles from the restaurant Pat noticed that the front end would start to shimmy at times. The shimmying would only last a few seconds and then the bus would be fine for several minutes.
After one particularly violent episode of shimmying Pat pulled over to the side of the road. A quick inspection of the front end didn't reveal any mechanical problems. As he started to walk back to the front of the bus he noticed that he was walking funny. His legs felt like they were shaking but the ground seemed steady as always.
Pat got back on the bus, "Just checking folks. Just a safety thing. The bus company requires us to check the bus every so often."
Pat hoped that his passengers believed him. He had no idea why the bus was starting to become so hard to drive. Just as the bus started to move again there was a loud snap like a tree limb breaking. The bus started to become too hard to steer and Pat had to pull off of the road again.
He got off of the bus and checked the steering again. Everything seemed fine. Pat knew that he didn't want to spend the night on the mountain so he pulled out his satellite phone to call his office. They could have help here in a couple of hours.
He dialed the office number and put the phone to his ear. All the came from the phone was an occasional snapping sound. He got back on the bus and tried to raise the office on the bus radio but it emitted the same snapping sound.
Just as he turned to try and calm his passengers the sky started to glow with an eerie yellow glow and an occasional streak of lightning would shoot horizontally across the sky. The sky began to get a deeper shade of yellow and the lightning began to occur more often. The loud snaps started getting more frequent and closer together.
Pat tried to think. Something was happening but he didn't know what. A quick glance in the rear view mirror showed him that some of the passengers were getting scared.
Pat remembered an old mine that was just about a hundred feet off of the road. Pat's father had pointed it out to him on one of their hunting trips. His father had warned him about the mine. It was an old lead and uranium mine and had been shut down after high levels of radiation began making the miners sick.
"Everybody off the bus," Pat yelled, "We have to get some shelter. I don't know what's going on but I don't like being in this bus. There's an old mine just behind the trees. It might just give us some protection from whatever is happening."
The shrew stood up and shouted, "Get back in that seat and drive this bus."
"Lady, you can stay here if you want but I'm getting some protection for these girls."
The girls started rushing toward the front of the bus, totally ignoring the shrew. They stood outside of the bus until all of them were together and then Pat started leading them into the woods. He looked back and saw that the shrew was following at the end of the group.
Pat found the mine without any effort and led everyone into the mine. He had everyone move back as far as the light would allow them.
"Look everyone," Pat shouted to be heard above the girl's hysterical chatter, "This is an old lead mine so try not to touch the walls. Don't sit on the floor either. The radiation levels in this mine are high so we have to get out as soon as this stuff is over.
Soon everyone's legs were shaking even though the earth and the mine were not. The girls were having trouble standing and several of them put their hands on the mine walls to steady themselves. Several of the girls were screaming.
Suddenly there was a loud snap that was so loud that it hurt everyone's ears. Almost everyone had their hands over their ears trying to get their hearing back.
When Pat looked toward the mine entrance he saw that the strange darkness that had been happening was slowly fading. The light outside of the mine began to slowly return to normal. Within an hour the light seemed to be normal. The atmosphere seemed much cleaner and fresher than it had been before they entered the mine.
"I'm going to look outside," Pat told the group, "Everyone stay where you are until I see if it's alright."
"What happened?" one of the girls asked.
Pat shook his head, "I don't know. It might have something to do with the black hole. Maybe the scientists were wrong about it having no effect on us."
One of the girls started crying loudly and Pauline went to her to calm her down. Several of the other girls were obviously shaken by what had happened.
Pat walked out of the mine. The air smelled fresh and there was a strange quietness to the earth. He walked to the bus and tried to start it. It started right up. He moved the bus forward a bit and the steering felt fine.