The Lovely Miss Maine

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May 14 2016

10:15 am

"Allright, there's the bell for recess so what are you supposed to do before we eat?" The pretty young teacher asks the twenty 4 years-olds that are under her care that morning.

"Wash our hands!" The kids chorus, before they all start running for their bags on the left side of the colorful classroom where they are asked to place their bags every morning. Everyone takes out their packed lunches and goes back to their seat, and they start to line up in front of the built in sink in the classroom to wash their tiny hands.

Teacher Maine Mendoza does the same thing by taking out her own packed lunch from her handbag. While everyone is eating their lunch happily, Maine is also eating her sandwich and at the same time checking the attendance of her students.

She notices that Henry Faulkerson, one of the quiet ones, is sitting alone in the corner and staring at the table. He's the only one who doesn't have a lunch so Maine stands up from her seat and makes her way to him. She kneels in front of the sad-looking little boy and smiles weakly at him.

The boy does not look up.

"Hello, Henry." She greets, her voice the kindness it can be. But the boy's eyes remain on the floor.

She's heard what happened to his parents ten days ago and her heart broke for the little kid. It was a tragic car accident on their way home from central London, both parents lost their lives and are buried in the local cementery two days later with only five attendees.

The school was informed and as Henry's classroom teacher Maine tries her best to comfort the boy, but Henry comes in school looking dishevelled, uniform un-ironed; hair unkempt; shoes unpolished and most of the time his guardian must have forgotten to put lunch in his bag. It gets worse everyday and Maine can only watch the poor kid as he learns to block the people around him. He refuses everything that's offer to him, he refuses to talk so Maine has to talk to her class one by one to make them understand why one of their classmates is acting like that.

Maine calls for his name again and the boy finally looks up, tears running down his chubby cheeks. "Hi Henry, you know I am here to listen if you want to talk? Are you hungry?" She asks, no reply. "I have an extra sandwich if you want,"

Henry shakes his head. Maine sighs and looks around the classroom but everyone is busy with their recess. "Let me buy you something in the cafeteria, is there any food that you'd like to eat?" Again, Henry shakes his head. "You're not hungry?" The little boy nods but Maine detects a lie so she forces a smile. "So here, just in case you're hungry. I'll leave the sandwich here, OK?"

She goes back to her desk and tries to keep an eye on every one, making sure that they're all eating their packed lunch. She keeps glancing secretly at the seatm on the third row next to the window where Henry sits, and sees that he is slowly reaching out for the sandwich he has placed there. She smiles weakly.

Their recess only lasts 30 minutes and they resume with playing and learning once again. Since she handles pre school, their class ends at exactly 12 o'clock and in the afternoon, she works in the afternoon shift for the day care center called Recess.

She waits for everyone to be picked up by their parents, she makes sure that all her students have gone home with the parents. Everyone except Henry who is still glued to his seat.

"Aren't you going home yet, sweetie?" She asks, her classroom is empty now. Henry shakes his head. "Do you want me to call your uncle to pick you up?" Again, Henry shakes his head. She sighs. "So how are you going to get home?"

Henry shrugs, "Ellie is in the day care, Richard said to go there and he will pick us up later," he finally replies.

Maine nods, and smiles sweetly at the little kid. "Oh really? I work there every afternoon so we can go there together!" She tries to act excited but she knows it won't make a difference on the little kid's disposition. "Come on, let's go and we will even pass by McDonalds. Would you like a happy meal?"