Page 52 of Jagger
“Miss Walsh, my husband and I do not want Anna to participate in any social skills or other “special” classes, and I don’t have time to take off work to discuss it. She may act shy at school, but you just can’t coddle her and let her get away with acting that way. There is nothing wrong with her that a little discipline won’t cure. We made it clear how she’s expected to act in your class, so you should see an improvement – Monica Laskey”
My heart sank at her crappy attitude, and I was more than a little concerned as I debated how to respond. We didn’t think there was anything wrong with Anna either, and just wanted to enable her to discover tools and skills to help her build interpersonal relationships. I forwarded the email to Amanda and the principal, asking for their input as to the next step. It didn’t sound like her mother and stepfather would be easy to win over, and the tone of the email made me very uneasy. Anna’s biological father was in prison and had no custody rights, so getting him involved for permission wasn’t an option,
Once I got outside, I was happy to see that all my students were healthy and back to school as well. Ethan had smiled widely when he saw me in the drop-off line, and I had been a little surprised to see Rome driving Abby’s car. He had never done the drop off before, and I was worried that she might have caught the flu as well.
“Good morning, Ethan. I saw that your dad dropped you off today. Did your mom get sick, too?” I asked him as we both waved at Rome before he drove off.
“Nope, but Daddy told her to stay in bed and sleep. He said my little sister kicked her all night long, so she didn’t sleep good last night. He said it’s ‘cause she’s tired of being stuck in Mommy’s tummy, but I think she’s just being a brat already,” he said disgustedly. His tone and mannerisms were so much like his dad and uncle, I had to stifle the urge to laugh.
I knew he was less than pleased about getting a sister instead of a brother and had at one point asked Abby why they couldn’t just order a boy instead. Abby had laughed as she’d told me that, but luckily, Rome had talked to him about how important his role as a big brother would be in helping to protect his sister, so the little boy was feeling a little better about it. It was clear he idolized his dad.
Brad walked over at that point, herding the last of the stragglers to the appropriate lines. He had a smirk on his face as he called over to one of the little girls in my class.
“Lily, why don’t you tell Miss Walsh your exciting news?” he asked, and I raised a brow at the unabashed glee in his tone.
“Miss Walsh, guess what?” Lily was bouncing on her toes in her excitement, causing her backpack to slip off one shoulder. I reached out to slide it back up into place as she continued without actually giving me time to guess.
“I think my daddy is buying me a horse for my birthday! I’ve been telling them forever and ever and ever that I wanted a horse, but Mommy said they costed too much money. I think Daddy got one on sale though, ‘cause Mommy told Aunt Charlotte that Daddy smelled like a cheap horse when he came over yesterday to see me. I think he must’a’ stayed in a barn with it, ‘cause Aunt Charlotte said Daddy likes to roll in the hay. I think that would be itchy, though, don’t you? I’m gonna ask my daddy about it when he picks me up tonight. If it’s not itchy, maybe I can roll in the hay, too.”
I blinked several times as I tried to follow the one-sided conversation. My eyes widened in alarm as I realized that her mother must have said cheapwhore, not cheap horse, and I was immediately grateful that Lily had no idea of the meaning behind the phrase “a roll in the hay”. I tried and failed to formulate an appropriate response, while simultaneously avoiding Brad’s gaze. I knew if I made eye contact with him, I would lose my composure. I could feel the laughter bubbling up inside me and bit my lip to keep from smiling.
Luckily, Lily was too excited to realize that I hadn’t replied. Brad nudged my arm and whispered “I’d pay good money to be a fly on the wall at Lily’s house tonight. From what I saw at Back-to-School night, Lily’s parents can barely say two civil words to each other. Theirs was most definitelynotan amicable divorce. I think that woman could do with a good roll in the hay. It might dislodge the stick up her posterior.”
I shot Brad a reproving look, which he ignored with an ease honed by years of practice.
“Let’s go, kids. Who’s ready to have a great week?” Brad’s attempt at a rallying cry was met with enthusiasm by the younger kids, and with rolled eyes and grumbles by the older ones, as they all turned to follow him into the building.
The morning went by smoothly, but I was saddened to notice that Anna seemed even more withdrawn than ever, and I wondered what her mother had said to her. Judging by the tone of the email the woman had sent me, I couldn’t imagine it was anything good.
“All right, the lunch bell will be sounding in just about five minutes. If you brought lunch from home today, please collect it from your cubby and line up on the red line. If you are eating the cafeteria lunch today, please line up on the blue line.”
I watched as the kids hopped up to follow my usual daily instructions, noticing that Anna seemed to be hesitant about what to do. I walked over to her desk and bent down to speak softly, not wanting to draw attention to her.
“Anna, can you get your lunchbox and line up now?” I prompted with a gentle smile. She looked sad and shook her head.
“Oh, are you getting lunch at the cafeteria today?” I asked, a little surprised since she almost always brought her lunch.
“No,” she replied softly, her eyes darting side to side as if making sure that nobody was looking at us.
“Did you forget your lunchbox, sweetie?” I asked, assuming that’s what had her upset.
“We were late.” she whispered so quietly that I had to lean forward to hear her.
The class was getting restless by the door, so I called out a reminder about waiting patiently, and asking them to remember their manners. I stood up and held my hand out for Anna, knowing I couldn’t get answers from her with the rest of the class waiting.
“OK, well, let’s get you some lunch from the cafeteria for now, and maybe we can talk about this later today. Does that sound all right?”
She nodded and slipped her hand in mind, slowly following me to the line. Once we reached the cafeteria, I directed the kids to either the food line to get their trays, or to the tables if they had their lunchboxes. I quickly realized that Anna still didn’t have any money in her school lunch account, so she was provided with a free lunch for the day.
To my dismay, Anna was even more withdrawn when I collected the kids from the cafeteria, and it was quickly apparent that she was trying to hold back tears. One of the lunch monitors quietly told me that Anna hadn’t eaten a thing but had just stared at the food on her tray, and no amount of coaxing would get her to eat, or to speak. I thanked her for letting me know and walked the kids back down to our room. Luckily, the resource aide I shared with the other kindergarten teacher was scheduled to work with two students who needed extra assistance, so I asked her to watch over the class for a few minutes while I stepped out into the hallway with Anna.
“Put on your listening ears,” I told the class, in an attempt to get their attention.
“Miss Walsh, my grandpa got new listening ears, but he keeps turning them off. He says Grandma talks too much, and he doesn’t want to have to hear her. Then Grandma said – “
“Theo, we’ve talked about this before. It’s important to only share things when we aren’t trying to do something else, remember?” I reprimanded him gently. I knewwaytoo much about Theo and his family already, including the fact that his dad farts when he drinks beer.
Theo ducked his head shyly and nodded, smiling up at me again when I reached over to pat his shoulder.
