It’s Tuesday morning and a bus load of kids are on their way to the middle school. The bus driver turns on his flashers and begins slowing down for the next stop.

The doors swing open. At that moment the driver and all 25 student passengers feel a violent jolt. The bus has been rear-ended by a pickup truck. The kids in the back row turn and look straight into the eyes of the pickup driver. He’s a young guy with blond curly hair, wearing a tee-shirt with the words "Beach Music" across the front.

The guy quickly backs up a few feet, drives around the left side of the school bus and takes off. Several of the kids yell to the bus driver, "Isn’t he supposed to stop?"

One-by-one the driver checks with each kid. Nobody seems seriously hurt. One boy bit his lip and is bleeding from the mouth. The driver calls his dispatcher on the radio and says his bus has been "rear-ended."

Two police cars and an ambulance arrive moments later. Of the 25 kids on board, paramedics decide to transport 15 "as a precautionary measure." They’ll all be examined and discharged within a few hours.

What are the kids worried about mostly? If you have children you already know the answer to that. They’re worried about their backpacks. They don’t want to lose any of their "stuff."

What about the hit-and-run driver? Did he get away with his crime? Not hardly! Police arrive at the driver’s home only minutes after he does. He’s already changed back into his pajamas and is eating cereal at the kitchen table when they arrive. Cops are not that easily fooled.

I forgot to tell you - the bus driver and eight kids on the bus wrote down the tag number as the pickup sped away. And don’t forget about the kids on the back row of the bus who know exactly what the guy looks like.