The Surly Bonds

Chapter 11

March 9, 1986. Annie lays in her bed, aloof from her family. Richard passes by her room but keeps walking. Her bedroom, now devoid of personality with all the NASA decorations removed, has fallen into nothing short of a pigsty. Annie rolls out of bed, taking her time to stand on two feet. She roots around in a sea of clothes, books, and school papers. Annie hears the faint roar of Richard yelling, "Annie, come down, now." Annie groans as she drops a pair of dirty jeans back into the pile. She sluggishly walks to the living room to meet Richard on the couch. He watches the NBC nightly news on low volume. "I got a call from your math teacher."

"Oh really, what'd she have to say?" Annie asks, lacking any intonation in her voice.

"She wants to arrange a meeting with both of us. Usually when a teacher calls, it's not good. Anything you want to tell me?"

"Nope, nothing to tell."

"Okay. This is your last chance, but if you say there's nothing to tell, I'll wait for your teacher to fill me in."

"Sounds great."

"You can drop the charade. You know I won't be mad if you tell me what's wrong. The reason I get mad is when you keep things from me. And I have to find out through other means."

"Did she say that I was doing bad?"

"No, she said she would like to meet with me. You have to understand that she wouldn't be calling if your progress were stellar. I'm a teacher, remember? I know these things."

"I'm telling the truth, dad. I'm doing fine. Sometimes I don't want to be there, so I do other stuff. I guess she finds it distracting."

"I know you don't like being in school, but please don't be disruptive to the other students. You know that annoys me the most."

"I can't help it, I get bored."

"Now you're saying that your teacher wants to have a talk because you're being disruptive, and this has nothing to do with learning math?"

"Yes, if you'd just listen to me!"

"Okay."

Richard turns the volume up on the television, in time for a slate of commercials. Annie looks at Richard and asks, "Am I dismissed?"

"Unless you want to watch TV with me."

Annie peeks at the TV, noticing the bombardment of ads for cars, beer, cat food and SeaWorld. A commercial for Punky Brewster appears on the television screen, "Tonight on a very special Punky Brewster, Punky must cope with the loss of Challenger and her dreams of being an astronaut. With special guest Buzz Aldrin."

Annie quickly retreats upstairs to her room. She slams the door and breathes heavily. She scans the room, and starts to grab all loose, scattered papers on the floor. She scoops up her trove of failed tests and incomplete homework and buries them deep within her closet. She slams the door, and slowly falls to the floor.

*

Inside Mrs. Daniels' classroom, Annie sits quietly in her chair, nervously twiddling her thumbs. She peeks over at the stack of math papers on the desk drenched in red ink, with very low numbers scrawled across the top. Richard enters the classroom, and immediately sits as he extends his arm to shake Mrs. Daniels' hand. "Richard, thank you so much for coming in," greets Mrs. Daniels.

"Not a problem," he says, leaning forward. "Annie has been assuring me that she's understanding the material but may have an attitude problem."

"An attitude problem?" Mrs. Daniels asks, reaching for a stack of papers.

"Well, sure. She's been a little rebellious and antisocial these past few months, but I assumed that's what happens when you're about to be a teen. It's no longer hip to be interested in school, so you act out and disrupt others. And annoy your parents, right?" Richard says as he nudges Annie.