A very quiet Monday

A discussion of a weekend car wreck and a ticket for driving without a license.
A resulting conversation about whether proof of insurance can save one from being hauled off to the local jail.

The bell.

Laggard instruction in essay writing that should have been finished a week ago at least.

A surprise entrance by a chronic truant, forty-five minutes late, natch.

Civics, Chapter Six. The Executive Branch as the framers intended. No current events today.

Advice on procuring summer writing tutoring and an explanation of why I cannot do it myself. For once, relief in the distance. Help with selecting a topic for a persuasive paper, completion of an outline.An update on the surgery and why she will not get it.

Algebra and fractions.

The chastised exit of the same truant for his sister's "dentist appointment."

A broken promise about asking guidance to get Oscar's stuff out of his locker now that he's not coming to school.

Delinquent paperwork.
A cookie from the boy who adores me.
Papers graded and entered, motivated by the news that midterm is suddenly Wednesday. WHAT?

A twenty-minute lunch with a departing friend. News of a summer baseball tour. Lighthearted envy. Talk of a coming birthday. Unnecessary assurance that I do not seem that old from someone who is that young.

Copies.

"My mom's leaving tomorrow," announced via sudden, unscheduled appearance.
"Are you okay?"

E-mail. Arrangements and requests and staff-centric gossip.

A map of Europe, the location of Luxembourg, and an explanation of the key.

An apology for eating pretzels in front of the girl whose mother has put her on a starvation diet, thanks to American food.

The Reign of Terror (in France, not my classroom) and World War II.

Child Development as a school subject, not the process I daily witness.

A delicate explanation (given the Chinese) of this "Tibet" thing that keeps turning up on Sports Center, complete with clarification that the Dalai Lama is not an animal.

Geometry. Word problems sketched. An English teacher alternately confident and stymied by tenth grade calculations.

A phone call from the teen mother about a long-delayed drop letter and the pretense of summer school.

"Ms. P., why are you being so nice today?"
"I'm not any different today than I ever am."
"Yes, you are."
"What are you doing that you don't always?"
"My work."

A meeting made bearable by like-minded colleagues. All the other everythings I've already forgotten. All things considered, a very quiet Monday.