Covenant Disrupted

Book 5 - On the Verge

Solidarity Primary School (later that day)

At the end of her English class, Grace wiped chalk off her hands and sat at her desk. Her students seemed to know that the lunch bell was about to ring, because they packed away their pencils and exercise books. Everyone did this except ten-year old Shamelia Granderson. She kept watching Grace, and eventually the child approached the teacher's desk.

"Missis Tennant?"

"Yes, Shamelia," Grace said, pushing aside her dog-eared copy of the Junior English Revised.

"Georgette telling lie on you, Miss."

"Try saying that again, Shamelia."

"I mean, Georgette is telling lies about you, Miss."

"That's better," Grace said with a smile. "Now, what kind of lies?"

"She say that you not talking to you husband who just come back from foreign, Miss."

"What!"

"I mean," the child said slowly, "she said that you are not talking to your husband who just came back from...America, Miss."

Grace swallowed. "Thank you, Shamelia." She waited until Shamelia had been seated for a couple minutes before calling the gossiper. "Georgette Forbes, please come."

Georgette wrung her hands all the way to where Grace was sitting and reported that she was just repeating what her friends had overheard their teacher telling another teacher. That teacher said that Mrs. Tennant was keeping malice with her husband. With a gentle rebuke from Grace not to spread rumors, the child went back to her seat just as the lunch bell rang. After the students filed out of the classroom, Grace sat at the desk and stared at her fingernails. She thumbed through a few textbooks, rearranged her desk a few times, and cleaned the chalkboard that was already clean. Finally, she got up and walked towards the cafeteria to face all the teacher who'd gathered for lunch.

***

Since Solidarity's lunchroom was under construction, teachers either ate their lunches at their desks or in the Grade One classroom next to the canteen. A thin, movable chalkboard separated the Grade One class from the canteen, and at lunch time, the teachers opened up the space to accommodate free flow between the two areas. Some of the taller teachers looked particularly awkward sitting on the low desks that had been built for first graders. The principal and vice principal occupied the teacher's table next to the louvre windows that overlooked the playground and the guango tree by the stream. Other teachers drifted over to that table every now and again to chit chat with their superiors. Most teachers, though, were scattered to the back and center portions of the room near a door that lead out into the playground. Occasionally, some teachers took their lunches outside if the weather permitted, but everyone seemed to be inside today. When Grace stepped into the canteen, the lively chatter hushed. If she noticed the change in the room, she didn't show it, because she went straight to the lunch counter.

Both the Principal and Miss Agnes had agreed that Miss Agnes would stick to cooking and not serve food. Also, Miss Agnes said she would always wear a mask if she had to cook. Yet, when Miss Agnes greeted Grace at the counter, her mask was not over her mouth but was hanging around her neck like an ugly necklace. Grace sighed and scanned the menu:

Red Peas Soup

Curry Chicken and White Rice

Brown Stew Chicken and Green Banana

Fried Chicken and Rice and Peas

"What you eating today, Mistress Tennant?" Miss Agnes said.