A lonely school bus driver remembered every child’s birthday—one afternoon, the entire town came together to surprise him.

town for almost 30 years. Kids in middle school now had older siblings who rode with him.

Their parents had probably ridden with him, too.

Everybody knew him. That was the problem.

We knew him in that lazy community way where someone becomes part of the landscape. Like the post office, or the crossing guard, or the woman at the bakery who always slips continue reading …