little lotus

Untitled Part 1

When the rain began to pour right when she was getting off the bus, Maggie realized two things:

1. Clouds are beautiful

2. She hates her fucking job.

Only a year in, she realized that her contract, her boss and instincts had lied to her. Royal View Contemporary should have been called Royal Pain in the ass. She had been searching for a job for what felt like ages and was sure nothing would be as depressingly soul crushing like not having a job even though you were top 15 in your entire faculty. Okay she wasn't 15th but she was pretty good, significantly more motivated and passionate than so many of her peers.

Maggie's biggest hurdle was escaping the fantasy she lived in. Her whole life she was a spectator in life, she never had a reason to live her life for herself. Her mother was going to be a lawyer had she not fallen pregnant and disowned by her mother. She never met her maternal grandmother and from the stories she had been told, they were very close. No doubt it killed her mother not to even see her off after she died.

Her father had worked sucky jobs his whole life. Being black, uneducated and the only son in the family in Apartheid era South Africa meant you'd be grateful for any shitty job you were able to get. Despite all these odds. Maggie's dad would have been a radiographer if Maggie was conceived a year or two later. Learning of his girlfriend's fate, Maggie's father dropped out of school worked in a coal mine, a gold mine and even as a domestic worker. PRIDE WILL NOT FEED YOUR CHILDREN.

On this particular afternoon, Maggie had left her umbrella on her desk to make room to carry her work home. Most 9-5 jobs are 8 hours long. So in essence half of your day is spent working. Hers however was a 24/7 post. She was a teacher and this is true for most teachers. You spend the day imparting new knowledge and as soon as you're free you use that time to gather resources to impart more knowledge the next day.

A lecturer had joked that teacher spend 12 years in the schooling system to go through 4 grueling years preparing to go back into that schooling system where you spend the rest of your life. It wasn't particularly the rain that made her question why the fuck the universe was so cruel. In preparation to getting that job, she had done all sorts of rituals and kissed tons of asses, she was happy for a week or two but shit hit the fan when she received a copy of her contract.

This contract is a legally binding agreement between the applicant and the school:

1. The applicant is expected to prepare well for lessons.

2. The applicant agrees to undergo a probation period of 3 months (but rest assured you'll always technically be on probation)

3. The applicant will stick to the ethics code of the school.

4. The applicant will dress in rags that cover her knees, shoulders and is loose enough to hide any/all body features.

5. The applicant agrees to spend at least 8 hrs a day at school (this can be easily extended during the weekend and you are expected to carry some of the work home where you will spend entire Sundays glued to your laptop like a slave until your but, back and eyes hurt)

6. You will abandon all forms of a social life outside of the school