July

It's the middle of July, sunny, 90 degrees. So clearly summer's over. The first school supplies have been purchased--the weekly ritual of whatever's on sale--but mostly it's the ringing of the phone that signals the changing of the seasons.

"What are you doing about freshman orientation?"

"What dialect do your Chinese students speak?"

"Who was monitored last year?"

"I need help filling out this form for the state."

"The bus company wants addresses. Where do the ninth graders live? Did anybody move?" That's my favorite. I suppose there's almost a compliment in there somewhere, that I should automatically know whatever there is to know about my students, but hello, surely there's a database with such information regarding these children whom I've yet to meet. I have no idea where they live. Honest. And I hear I'm on vacation, technically, at least.