Kate Howard
Reporter
While most morning bus rides consist of half-asleep students finishing breakfast, listening to iPods, or rushing to complete last night’s math assignment, those sitting in the back of Bus 13 are waiting to make the turn at Darien’s Barringer Road. The bus riders are preparing to swap their latest note with Darien High School (DHS) sophomores Spencer Dean and Andrew Fletcher.
According to sophomore Veronica Hoeft, these pen pal-like communications started in the late fall, just after the vandalism incident occurred before the Turkey Bowl. The notes prompted the running joke that they were bridging the gap by talking to Darien students. Along with Veronica, the students participating in the note passing include junior Ryan Van Vleet, sophomores Isabelle Herde, Audrey Piehl, and Emily Pugliese, and freshman George Herde.
Every day, Bus 13’s route takes New Canaan students across the Darien town line. The passengers gave Spencer and Andrew a friendly wave as they passed, which is how the nature of this correspondence began. “We saw that they were just standing outside waiting for the bus like we usually do, so it was fun to quickly say ‘hi’ as we passed,” Ryan said. “This turned into a ‘question of the day’. And every day we would have about fives seconds as the bus passed to ask them a question. Usually our questions were as simple as ‘pirates or ninjas, which is better?’”
Andrew said this continued for some time until one morning a piece of paper was tossed out the window at them. “We looked at it and read it aloud a couple of times. It was from a girl named ‘Emily’ and signed by quite a few people on the bus. It was quite fun to read, and Spencer and I later decided to write letters back to this ‘Emily,’” Ryan said.
According to Emily, NCHS students decided to start writing letters because they wanted to ask more detailed questions to the Darienites. “We found it hard to say much in a couple of seconds, so we decided to write a letter and they wrote back,” she said.
The next day, Spencer and Andrew responded with a letter about themselves. “We were clueless at first as to how we were to deliver the ‘mail’, so to speak,” he said. “But, it turned out not to be a problem, as we simply handed the letters through the window [when the bus stopped at the stop sign].” Members of Bus 13 have received approximately 10-15 letters comprised of raps, poems, and questions from the DHS students. But NCHS students also do a fair amount of writing themselves. The night before, if time permits, Emily and others will individually write informal responses.
To allow for the transfer of messages, the bus driver offers a smile and waits while briefly paused at the stop sign before turning back onto Hoyt Street. Noting the driver’s lenient attitude toward the ongoing letter exchange, Ryan said, “The first time we got a letter, I was pleasantly surprised that our bus driver stopped the bus so we could reach out the window and collect it. Everyone on the bus turned around to see what was going on and gave us a ‘what are you doing?’ look. Now, he almost does it routinely and its really nice that he stops.”
Students from both schools said they continue this relationship because it’s a fun way to start the morning. Nevertheless, these letters can’t propel them to catch the early bus. “This does not really motivate me to make the bus in the morning because nothing can motivate me out of bed at 6:30; however, it does make me somewhat disappointed when I do miss the bus,” Andrew said.
Spencer had similar sentiments. “It does make waiting for the bus that much more interesting,” he said.
Isabelle said that though they are all Facebook friends and their means of communication have expanded via the Internet, the letters keep coming about three times per week. “It’s continued because it is [a]peculiar and rather interesting thing to say you have participated in,” she said.
