It Was Another Day

"We would like to request mercy from the court, she needs help."  the lawyer requested.  

"Explain the nature of the incident."  the judge responded.

"She arrived to work drunk and a co-worker asked if she could drive her home.  She grabbed the co-worker by the neck, said that she would choke her out and threatened to kill her several times."

I think about that day in court kind of regularly.  It was easy to want mercy for the lady in shackles until you heard the actual thing that she did.  The judge was Republican-appointed and a member of the Federalist Society.   I was stunned when she did just that, showed mercy in sentencing.  

"Did you see Alfred's new haircut?"  Mya asked with a smirk.

Alfred.  The boy who harassed her so terribly.  We never speak his name.

"Yeah."  I responded, before laughing involuntarily.  It really was an awful haircut, unfortunately making a really fucking pervy kid look exactly like a warped penis-head.  

"He had a crush on Mya."  Pway announced.

"Yeah....I heard that."  I answered, shaking my head.  I don't know if I would call sexual harassment a 'crush', but ten year olds don't always know the correct terms.  

"He just needs to close it."  Mya responded.

"Yes, yes he does.  And he better keep it closed."  I answered.

"And, he's never going to get anyone with that hair."  Mya continued.  

We all started laughing.  

"They gonna jump her!"  Demetrius announced as we walked up the hill away from the school.

Here we go again, I thought.  The Hale girls.  I walked up beside the new fifth grade girl.  

"Are they threatening you?"  I mumbled under my breath.

"Yes." she answered.

"She been sayin' all day that she was going to get me on the way home."

The girl pulled out her phone and moments later, a car pulled up at the corner and she jumped inside.  

I didn't even know her name.  I walked back to school and alerted the admin.

The third meanest teacher in the school stepped out of the classroom for a minute.  I was leaning over Mario's desk, trying to help him with some classwork when I heard it.

"Hey, cómo está?"  a kid said mockingly to the class.

Mario and I locked eyes.  Is this what we thought it was?

"Ching chong, ching chong!"  another kid seconded.  

"That's racist."  a third kid announced.

"Stop."

They continued.  

I cornered the boys with the third meanest teacher.  She ripped into them, inches from their faces, while I stood impotently behind her.  They tried to say they didn't do anything.

"Get over here!"  she yelled to the kid that had tried to stop the comments.

"What'd they say?"  she yelled.

"They were pretending to speak Spanish and then they started saying 'ching chong'."  he said, matter of factly.

"He was directing it at them,"  he continued, motioning to Mya and Pway.

"They think that they are Chinese and that they talk like that."  he finished, before shrugging and sitting back down. 

Sun came up it was another day

And the sun went down

You were blown away....

I sat in the dark club on a Tuesday night, listening to the sad lyrics sail through the air, all while trying not to feel sad. 

Why'd you ever let it get that far.....

The new fifth grader was standing next to me at the front of the walker line.  She usually kept her distance, it is not exactly the coolest thing for a new fifth grader to be hanging around teachers, especially not the white one.  

"Are your people coming for you again today?"  I asked quietly.

"No.  My uncle gotta work.  No one will be home 'til later."  

"Stay close to me.  I'll walk your way but pretend I'm not with you."

She nodded quickly back at me, eyes darting away.  

She walked about ten feet ahead of me and the three Hale girls hovered directly behind me.  An angry mom stood at the top of the hill, waiting for the middle Hale girl that had been harassing her daughter.  As we got closer, the mom mumbled,  "Get in the car.  I gotta work." and drove away.

As we breached the top of the hill, I took a right and kept walking toward the new girl's house.  The other harassee passed by, screaming "YOU UGLY!!!!" at the Hale girls from the window of her mom's car.  

"Ms. Wagner, why you walking so far?"  the oldest Hale called.

"Seems like a nice day for a walk."  I answered.

"Naw, why don't you go back to the school?"  she responded, a tight smile on her face.

"I'm good."  I answered and kept walking.

I made the right turn where the Hale girls were supposed to turn left.  They followed us to the right.  

"Aren't you guys going the wrong way?"  I asked, stalling a little while the new girl gained more ground and got closer to her house.  

Finally, the Hale girls ran back in the direction of their house.  I stood at the top of the street until the new girl waved from her driveway, not leaving until there was no way the Hale girls could catch up with her.  

I stood in Paw Ku's backyard late on a Friday afternoon.  Bway Pa was sailing by on the swing, smiling and taking pictures of herself in her dark sunglasses.  Kaw ran by, pulling his shirt up, threatening to show us his "six pack" while he chased Angel and Paw Ku's little brother.  Hyoo played with his little sister and cousin, all with plastic, glow-in-the dark vampire teeth glowing in the late afternoon sun.  Their tongues were all blue and red from the ring pops they ate.  A strong, pungent smell of fermented fish poured from the house as Paw Ku's mom picked Thai chilis from a one of the many vegetable-bearing bushes in the yard.  We fed the cats lemon pepper chicken wings and hula hooped.

It was a beautiful afternoon.  

*Title and lyrics, Drunken Angel, Lucinda Williams