A Frigid Smile

This morning, when my sixteen year-old daughter came downstairs she said, "I'm worried about making it to the bus stop on time."


I rolled my eyes. It was already 2 minutes after she usually leaves for the bus (when she makes it tp the bus), so it looked like I was driving her either to the bus stop or to school (again) this morning. I put on my shoes and went outside to start the car. I was just sitting in the driver's seat when my girl exited the house. She was wearing only a light jacket.

"Teenagers!" I thought as I shook my head.
As my daughter opened her car door and plopped into the seat beside me, I asked, "Where is your coat?"

She motioned to the back seat, "It's back there." She did not turn around to get it.

I paused for a moment, then asked, "Are you going to put it on?"

The child shrugged, "No."

Tightening my lips, I looked at my dashboard to read the outside temperature. "It is 15 degrees outside." [Fahrenheit / -9.44 C]

She protested, "I am in the car now, then I am getting on the bus. I will be in school all day and you are picking me up after Jazz Band tonight."

Her argument made sense, but it did not make me happy. I decided to let my teenager learn her lesson the hard way.

"What time am I picking you up, again?" I asked.

"I don't know -- about 5:00."

By this time, we were almost at the bus stop. Two other parents' cars were parked on the side of the road, so I turned the corner to park and wait for the bus. The air from the car's heater was just lukewarm by now, but I did not want my little girl to be colder than necessary and at least there is no wind inside my car, so I put my car in park and sat back to wait. It took all of about thirty seconds of waiting in a cold car for a particular cold youngster to turn around and pull her coat out of the back seat. She draped it over her chest and pulled it up to her chin like a blanket.

Seconds later, the bus arrived. I smiled as my daughter got out of the car with her coat, slipping an arm into its sleeve as she crossed the street to catch her bus.