THE BUS PEOPLE

Vignettes from the lives of the kids on Bertram's bus—the ``fruit cake bus'' to a special British school. Regardless of their problems (speechless noises, slobbering, incontinence, seizures), these physically and intellectually limited individuals are vibrantly alive. Rebecca's family loves her, but she's shelved when social pressure hits; some kids are lucky enough to have supportive parents; others are quietly despised at home—or suffocated: e.g., inarticulate Micky, ``sitting like an egg in my wheelchair,'' has an overprotective mum who denies him the chance to go to a special college, his only hope of achieving independence. His thoughts, at least, are eloquent: ``I am enslaved to her care...the ritual dance into which we are both now locked.'' Facing life with a coping sort of logic (and even humor), sensitive to the world and words around them, these children accept handicaps that seem almost insurmountable. We are privileged to be able to listen in on their inner voices, sharing their stories as they occur, and to meet Bertram, the bus driver, who omits from his succinct daily reports the love and humor and respect he feels toward his charges. An attention-holding ``sleeper'' with unusual depth. (Fiction. 8-12)