It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and Chicklet, Busling, and I are wandering the aisles of the Douglass-Truth children’s section, looking to replenish our summer reading selection.

At a nearby table, a grandmother is reading a picture book, which happens to be one of those reinterpretations of The Wheels on the Bus, to her two-ish grandson. When she gets to, “The driver on the bus says, ‘Move on back!’” Chicklet immediately stops what she is doing.

“That’s not very nice, is it?” she asks, eyeing the grandmother suspiciously. (Don’t sleep on the Chicklet Side Eye.)

I assume that she is concerned about the lack of politeness–since she is always expected to remember her manners–and so attempt to explain that bus drivers have a job that requires them to communicate directions quickly and clearly and sometimes don’t have time to say, “please.”

This explanation doesn’t seem to satisfy her.

“But Mom,” she persists, “People can sit in the front if they want to!”

Guess she’s been paying attention.

“Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds, will continue in others.” – Rosa Louise McCauley Parks