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It was a nice day, 40°. Her mom, Janice, could see the road from their window. She could hear the bus on the gravel as
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it pulled up. Like, what could possibly happen in your own driveway? So, she told her husband, Leroy, they could skip
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meeting Cherry at the stop. And every day for 40 years, I bet her stomach churns as she replays that decision. I
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mean, it was so small, but it changed her life forever. Janice hears the bus come and go and
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they wait. But when minutes go by and Cherry doesn't walk through the door, Leroy heads out to the front of the
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trailer to check on her. Now, he doesn't spot her out front, so he walks to the end of the driveway, thinking maybe
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she's stopped to chat or play with a friend, but she's not there either. And as he stares up and down the two-lane
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back road, surrounded by woods on either side, the first seed of the stomach pit
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that he'll come to live with begins to Grow.