From Saxophone To Chaperone -aka- The Pied Piper Of Public School

When was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)?

Indianapolis, Indiana 1986

My 9-year-old baby sister Kim was so excited to see me home from college that she wanted me to come with her on her school bus trip to Indianapolis. So, my mother, well known in the public school system, called the principal’s office to ask if I could serve as a chaperone.

All of this was coordinated without my knowledge and consent, but I would never have declined the opportunity to be there for her.

Having attended Franklin Elementary School myself, I was still remembered by many members of the faculty. And being a member of the Davis family, my reputation was good enough to be readily welcomed to participate.

The morning of, there I was, sitting in one of the teacher’s classrooms at 6 a.m., the only 19-year-old, trying to stay awake amidst a small group of teachers and parent volunteers. My only investment was the small amount required to cover my entrance to the some of the sites on our list and my lunch.

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The trip down was only about 3 hours, but I chose to get the children involved early (also to wake myself up) by teaching them some of the songs I had learned from my older cousin as a child, like Pete Seeger’s “If You Miss Me At The Back Of The Bus”. The only variation to the tune was that I focused on the first verse, which I would stop singing after each phrase to point at one or a few of the students. When I pointed, they had to repeat it.  If I simply looked without pointing, they were to remain silent.

“If you missed me at the back of the bus, and you can’t find me nowhere-“
*Points* (response) “Nowhere!”
“Come on up to the front of the bus, I’ll be riding up THERE!”
*Points* (response) “Up there!”

This proved to be the crowd pleaser for all, including the parents. So much so, that they wanted to know how I had been chosen to help chaperone but wasn’t one of the parents or teachers. When I explained that I was only visiting from college, my little sister proudly exclaimed that I was a “superstar sax player who also played every instrument ever created”.

As a result, when we weren’t singing Seeger’s song or one of the African tunes I had learned, they were asking me about music. When the bus had to make a quick stop, I had them all crowding the aisle, cheering and trying to dance with me as I performed some of the dance routines from the halftime shows from the previous Florida A&M football season.

Of course, all of this fun semi-backfired when we exited the bus at our destination, and everyone was given their chaperone assignments. NO one wanted to go with any other chaperones and were quite adamant about being with me. As a result, we all walked as one super-sized group with the other chaperones on the perimeter, ensuring that none of the sheep left the herd.

It also caused some difficulty when we made our first pit stop for the children to go to the bathrooms. Many of the girls became upset because I couldn’t take them into the restrooms like I could the boys, even though the female chaperones tried to explain.

Things eventually subsided when I agreed to walk them all to the outside entrance and “stand guard” as their protector.

It also brought me joy knowing that each of the kids wanted to take turns holding my hand as we walked, even though I only had one to give because my sister insisted on locking onto the other hand the entire time. She eventually gave in and shared.

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We had a wonderful time that day. In fact, I had more fun than the rest, being a part of an “adult activity” for the first time in my life. I hadn’t been trained for it, but it came easy to me. I got so much enjoyment out of it that I was just as sad as the children when we returned, and everyone went their separate ways. I was even given my entry and food fee back because they didn’t feel I should have paid, having taken such a role during the day’s events.

Although my mother had dropped us off that morning, I chose to walk the 5 blocks home with my sister, who spent the entire walk talking about how happy she was that I agreed to come along and how much one of the girls wanted to marry me (which is funny because it’s been almost 40 years since that day and that young lady is a parent now and one of my friends on Facebook – and she still remembers that trip very well).

Because of that day, I “volunteered” my services for many trips over the years with other organizations. But none ever matched that first time, where I truly and finally felt like a grown-up.

From saxophone to chaperone, or should I say, “The Pied Piper of Public School”.

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