"I hear that COVID voice again." Alejandra mentioned absent-mindedly. I stifled my inappropriate laughter. The COVID voice belonged to another student's mother. I looked at the little panels in our MEET. Alejandra was wrapped in a blanket, obviously half awake. Baby Gustavo was laying under the covers in his bed, wearing a wife beater and what we inadvertently discovered later when he got up, his underwear. Mashia was dressed and at the kitchen table, but rarely unmuted herself because we would either hear the COVID voice in the background or a wild call to prayer. Pablo sat eating breakfast, a cheese stick in one hand and a Pepsi in the other. He had some barbecue chips, later. Mario didn't show, as usual.
"Are you guys ready for the matching game, the vocabulary thing, or do you want to play something different?"
Pablo quickly unmuted himself.
"Among Us." he requested.
"Not during school!" I responded.
"After!"
"Then let me see Lola." he responded.
We meet up a lot after school. It takes up most of my planning time. Occasionally we do school work, but the kids mainly just want to talk to each other. Often, we play Among Us in a private match against each other, while we simultaneously talk on the MEET and listen to music. I've gotten better at Among Us after an unfortunate first day where I was killed over and over. My students felt bad for me and quit killing me, simply leaving me standing in a corner with a pumpkin on my head.
I voted. During my lunch one day I drove down to our basketball arena, State Farm. Alec and I both decided that was where we would early vote, mainly because they have hundreds of machines and the place is huge, as opposed to ten machines crammed into the public library. A poll worker waived me in to free parking directly across the street and pointed to where I needed to go. I don't go out very much and when I do, I realize I feel strange. The sun seems really bright. I feel kind of rumpled and puffy. I stare at the ground or scope around, trying to jump away from people that get too close. I always wear a mask and don't even bother with makeup anymore. My hair is perpetually pulled back because it has gotten ridiculously long. And for some reason, I randomly feel like crying.
I entered the arena and was met by enthusiastic young people working the poll, as opposed to the regular older set of poll workers. They wore t-shirts that had a large basketball on it instead of a peach, but with a little green leaf on the top and adorned with the "I voted" banner. They had plexiglass and hand sanitizer everywhere. I got through quickly and walked past the bars and restaurants that people frequent during the games and thought of different times. They were all shuttered. I was surprised when they guided me right into the main arena. I stood at the top of the stadium stairs and looked down at hundreds and hundreds of voting machines lined up on the basketball court. And down I went to the floor and placed my vote on the same court that we watched LeBron James play on. It was a strange sensation and I glanced up, thinking we maybe needed a cheering crowd. But, the seats were all empty.
I went back out into the bright sunlight and to the car, getting to the couch five minutes before my next class began.
*Title, Belle and Sebastian
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