"Okay, we are going to finish this code of conduct thing...." Mr. Warner told his second grade class.
He continued to read off of the Power Point.
"Well, I guess none of you have a pager, because they haven't been made in like, twenty years... but if you find one, don't bring it to school." he continued.
"Don't do the drug part." I implored him. I had already seen it with my fifth graders and all that it prompted were questions from Kaw about what marijuana was and what LSD meant. Those questions were hard enough to answer and then the rolling papers and pipes slide came up next. I'm surprised they didn't mention roach clips with feathers hanging from them.
I picked up my $1400 rental car the day before pre-planning began. I rented the cheapest economy one and was glad when I went to the store thing and they actually had a car for me. On top of it, it wasn't the little car, instead I got a brand-new Camry, so huge I didn't know how to drive it and with so many weird gadgets I had to keep the manual on the passenger seat just to figure out basic functions.
"Wow," my brother in-law exhaled after jumping into the back seat.
"This is so.... whorish."
You mean the faux leather, red and black interior? Yeah, that's how I ride.
Lola has been getting radiation on her leg, everyday, five days a week. Alec has been doing the heavy lifting, dropping her off in the morning and picking her up three hours later, via her prioritized schedule. I watch them ride off and get into my whorish car and try to focus on work.
By the first week of school, two out of three of our custodians were out with COVID. Last year, we received a letter every time a student or staff member got sick, informing us that contact tracing had been done and that we were not exposed. This year, we haven't received anything and no one was quarantined. Other districts are releasing the number of COVID infections they have regularly and telling how many people they have in quarantine. Our district is radio silent, leaving us all nervous.
My baby is back. It was exactly as I predicted it. March, 2020, we left everything. As I hunted down my students via telephone from my living room, I could not get ahold of Agnieskza. She wasn't logging-in online. I called. I texted, in French. I emailed. I told her dad to pick up a laptop. I made interpreters call. Every time, if he answered, he would say he didn't know that we were still having school. She dropped off of the rolls early last year. I knew what was going to happen. I knew that as soon as in-person learning resumed her dad would walk her up and play dumb, as if nothing had happened. As is he randomly didn't keep his child out of school for a year and a half. And that is exactly what he did.
She's back. She was placed a year behind her grade level, because she never did second grade. He didn't even come. My other baby, Nsimba brought her.
"I didn't know if you'd still be here." Agnieskza told me, two days later.
"I'll always be here." I answered.
"Nsimba says she misses you."
Lola has finished her treatments. Her fur is peeling off of her leg. I have worked the longest fifteen days of my life. And I haven't even told you the half of it.
*Title, Waylon Jennings, Black Rose
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