Bus Ride

[Scrabjan1]

Was this a flub?

In Bus Ride when Wally accompanied Beaver to Crystal Falls I think this was a flaw. In Elmhust Beaver and Wally take a rest stop for refreshments. Wally goes to pay the check and Beaver buys some comics. Wally has him get on the bus himself but Beaver gets on the Mayfield bus home. When Wally gets to Crystal Falls Mr. Payton agrees to come down to Mayfield to pick up Beaver. Wally says to Beaver when they arrive "Don't forget your suitcase." Question: why would Beaver have brought his suitcase back on the Mayfield bus? His suitcase would have been on the Crystal Falls bus. When Mr. Payton picks up Beaver it should have been in the trunk when Wally got to Crystal Falls and got it off the bus. Anyone understand this?

[Scrabjan1]

That's a possibility but I think they simply got back on the same bus since Wally is sitting next to the same people. Wouldn't Beaver have had to have had his suitcase with him when he boarded the wrong bus? I do believe I see the suitcase when he gets out of the cab in Mayfield. I think it's a flaw. Wally really screws thing up on trips like in Train Trip when he spends too much money on junk.

[Scrabjan1]

I brought up this old thread. When Wally gets back on the bus at Elmhurst he’s looking for Beaver. He asks the man with the mustache if he saw a little kid and then the woman he was sitting next to. The man and woman had changed seats so Wally and Beaver could sit together. Why are they back in their original seats? Also when Beaver gets out of the taxi he doesn’t have his suitcase so it should be in the trunk of Mr. Peyton‘s car. Why does Wally tell Beaver “don’t go forgetting this.”

The man with the mustache calls the driver to tell him they’re missing a passenger. Obviously he didn’t do anything.

[Tankeryanker]

Wow. Great catch. Thank you for this. I think you are right.

[Scrabjan1]

Welcome! It was perfectly right to show Beaver with no suitcase when he gets out of the taxi but why should Wally push it through the window to him doesn’t make sense.

[stevea]

When I saw this again today, and I saw Wally handing him the suitcase, it was "huh"? again.

If the suitcase was stowed in the bus luggage compartment, Wally would have recovered it at Crystal Falls. It would have had to have been in Mr. Payton's trunk, or already somewhere in the car.

Another interesting thing about this episode is Wally told Ward right away about the mixup. No friend calling to tell Ward, hey, I was on the bus to Mayfield and I saw your younger son traveling alone, etc. (like George Haskell relaying the train incident). So this is one of the few episodes where Ward finds out, via Wally telling him.

Also Wally did say he flubbed, but Ward could have told him how serious this was, and the consequences that could have ensued.

[Scrabjan1]

Just like in Train Trip when Wally spent too much money on food and had no money to get home he really screwed up leaving Beaver alone in the station to get back on the right bus. He just assumed Beaver would see the board and get on the Crystal Falls bus. Beaver screwed up too and said he was on the Mayfield bus. Isn’t that why Wally went with him to watch and make sure he made it?

[stevea]

Considering what happened with the train, W&J shouldn't have let Wally take Beaver on the bus.

[Scrabjan1]

Wally must have been really nervous not having Beaver with him for another hour and a 1/2 to Crystal Falls and was on pins and needles thinking he lost Beaver like Beaver thought he lost Chuckie.

[stevea]

Wally losing Beaver was worse than Beaver losing Chuckie. Chuckie was in the local area, and technically, this was really Wally's fault, too. June later told Mrs. Murdock that Wally was old enough to know better, which was true. They should have grounded him.

But Wally lost Beaver in a bus station in a strange town. He could have ended up anywhere, never to be found again.

The more I think about it, both incidents were pretty bad. And both were Wally's fault. For that matter, so was the train trip money shortage.

[Scrabjan1]

I thought it was also dumb of Wally to not tell Beaver to wait for him as he had to pay for their sodas. Instead Wally tells him he’ll see him back on the bus. Huh?? Beaver should have said I’ll buy a few comics and we can get on the bus together. Of course the plot was how can we get Beaver to board the wrong bus.

I’m surprised Beaver didn’t realize he was on the wrong bus. He waited a while to check and see if Wally was behind him.

[stevea]

I liked it when Beaver commented about seeing scenery, but it's going the other way. Then the guy yelled for the driver, who could have probably stopped, got more details from Beaver (where he was going, who he was with) and radioed his dispatcher, but evidently he did none of that. Had it been a real situation they might have then sent a supervisor who would have taken Beaver to the right bus. A real company even at that time probably had a procedure to follow for kids on the wrong bus.

[Scrabjan1]

The guy next to Beaver when he got on the wrong bus didn’t call the driver. That was the guy next to Wally. Beaver finds out that bus is headed to Mayfield. He says it’s not where I’m supposed to go but at least it’s a place I’ve been. The guy thinks Beaver will be okay. Then we see him arrive home by taxi.

[stevea]

Thanks for that correction. So with Beaver, he turned around to talk to Wally and the lady answered. Other than that, he made the remark about the scenery going the other way. And the guy said, Kid, you're on the wrong bus. So what probably happened next, we see Beaver arriving at the house.