Stayin' Alive

"She has rocks in her mouth!" my neighbor's child yelled to her mom from the backyard. 
"The dog always does!  Honey...watch out for poo...." she called in return. 
"I have boots on!" the child answered.
"But honey....I really don't want your poo boots in my car.....".

"We will begin dismissing students now.  Students:  stay in your classrooms until you are called".
It was 11:30 in the morning.  The water in most of the city was off because of a huge water pipe break.
"Have you seen the bathrooms?" another teacher whispered to me.
"No, I had no idea anything was going on".
"I have to pee so bad I am about to piss my pants.  I went in there and IT IS DISGUSTING".
"The adult restrooms?"
"YES.  The adult restrooms.  Pee everywhere, on the seat, on the floors, everywhere".
Jesus, people, keep it together.
Our school has over seven hundred elementary-aged students.  Their parents received a robocall and email blast to come and get their kids.  Though it was only a water issue, things were about to be wild.

"PELO!" Oliver called, staring at the red streak in my hair.
"PELO!"
"Yes!  Yes, you are right!"
He drifted off, staring fixedly at my hair.

"His name is Brad.  He's in fourth grade.  I don't know who his teacher is".
"Look, I'm the neighbor, his mom asked me to come and get him, she's at work".
"I'm a grandpa!  I don't know which class she is in!"
Large groups of adults were arriving and crowding in.  Some knew exactly where their kids were and waited patiently, others became frustrated when we couldn't get their kids to them fast enough.  Many friends and family had been sent to pick up kids.  Some had no idea what grade or class the kid was in.  Soon older brothers and sisters from the high school began walking up, sent to pick up their siblings. People were leaving their cars in the middle of the street.  
"We are NOT going to be here tomorrow" a teacher whispered.
"There is no way, the can't fix this thing before tomorrow".

Oliver looked at me and rubbed his cheek.  I rubbed mine in response, did I have something on my face?
"Chica!" he shrieked and giggled.
"CHICA!"
I laughed too.  

As I walked down the sidewalk the following morning, I heard the faint beats of "Stayin' Alive".  I had partied down in anticipation of having the day off and what do you know....the water got fixed!  As I approached the school, "Stayin' Alive" got louder.  It was dark and parents waited in their cars with their kids until we opened the doors.  It was cold.  A man and his daughter sat emotionless in a car with the Bee Gees blaring.  One of them rolled down a window.

"Well you can tell by the way I use my walk....." the Bee Gees sang, followed by extreme falsettos, a driving bass line and a bunch of "ah ah ahs". The parking lot was filled with the beat as students and teachers strutted to the music at just a little after seven in the morning.