Neil and his boys are oblivious of any danger. They see that the bus monitor is sitting stiffly like a sentinel, staring straight ahead and not paying any attention to them. They rush to the side window noiselessly, like commandos, make foul stiff-handed gestures silently to the boys outside. The Turkish boys see them and roar, the sudden din is startling. They surge forward even as the light changes to green and they hit the side of the bus with the flats of their hands.
Several boys cock back their arms and dull thuds land on our metal outside.
They're throwing rocks. Neil releases the window latch and wiggles outward, half in, half out of the bus. It's the worst thing we know how to say in Turkish. The ultimate insult. I hear a cry of pain, shouts in English and shouts in Turkish.