Daycare// Joshler

2

josh's point of view

i woke up to the light in my eyes. debby was already gone and im sprawled out across the bed. my mind immediately goes to tyler. i couldn't stop thinking about him all the way driving back home. now here i am again, thinking about him. the married man.

here i am, a taken man, thinking of a married man. what is wrong with me. my alarm was going off like crazy. three texts on my phone, 'good morning j', from debby. 'where are you?' from jamie, my boss. and a 'hey josh,' from my mom. all from an hour or more ago.

i sat up, not wanting to get up. thirty minutes, i have until im late to work. then, i realized if i didn't hurry up, jamie could probably fire me. i hurried and get ready and then jump in my car.

-----

i barely make it on time. "mr josh! mr josh!" one of the four year olds said. the classes i have are either four, five, six year olds, or all of the above. right now, i have four year olds. all of the above is more toward later today. "hello there micheal." i said as i put my briefcase on the desk.

"john stole my pencil," micheal complained. "where's john?" i asked micheal, getting on one knee to be at his height. he pointed toward a little girl. "that's not john," i laughed silently to myself. "that's sara smiles micheal."

"well then sara stole my pencil." micheal huffed. "well do you want to hold my hand while we go confront sara?" i ask standing up and holding my hand out. micheal grabs my hand and we walk toward sara.

sara's socializing with a kid named alex now. "sara, me and micheal need to talk with you." i say, alex looks up at me and then runs toward another kid. "did you steal micheals' pencil?" i ask and sara nods slowly, pulling a pencil from behind her back.

"why?" i ask. "c-cause his pencil is really long mr josh. mine's really short. i wanna long pencil!" sara says, i hold my hand out for micheals pencil. sara puts the pencil in my hand and then runs away. "here you go micheal," i say handing him his pencil. he then runs to his desk, sets it there and goes to talk to one of his friends.

------

a red bus pulled up to the daycare. one of the elementary schools' had ended. i have bus duty today, "everyone it's recess time," i called. "who wants to play kickball?" i asked, everyone screamed yes. "let's go then!" i said and we walked outside. "james, you're a team captain, and lucas, you're a team captain. pick your teams," i said and give james the ball for the moment.

five kids get off the bus then the bus drives away. "alright, roll call." i said pulling out the clipboard. "andrew james," there's a faint here, "sarah jackson," another faint here. "rosie joesph?" i called. "here!" rosie responded. i smile to myself, my favorite student.

"courtney walker?" another faint here. "robert weens?" no answer. "not here?" i said to myself marking him absent. "alright kids," i say and they run behind me as I walk back toward the field. it was always in my vision but now im just closer. "we're playing kickball, anyone who wishes to join can do so, if not feel free to play on the playground." i said.

james gave me back the ball with a "here mr josh." i nodded at james, "thanks." i said. "looks like we have four new players. lucas, pick your first new player." lucas picks andrew. "your turn james," james picks sara. "lucas," lucas picks courtney. "we're at even numbers mr josh. rosie would just mess up the whole game." a student piped up.

i nodded, "rosie, would you care to hang with me while they play kickball?" i offer, there's a few groans and 'awe mans'. as if the kids think hanging out with me is better than kickball. her face immediately lights up and she comes and sits on a curb by me.