With No Warning (Romance/Inspirational)(Complete)

CHAPTER 18: Valentine's Reds and Blues

CHAPTER 18: Valentine's Reds and Blues

Like a paper snake, the color of love, pink, white, and red, entwined, crepe paper stretched across the gymnasium floor, and up the rolling scaffold device, on which Kelli was delicately perched. With clear tape, she secured it to the lines of tiny lights, dangling and crisscrossed, high above the floor, creating a false ceiling of twinkling stars.

     Dakota and Lora stood some distance from Kelli, twisting the colorful rope, and sliding the scaffold as needed. Other teachers were assisting in the decorating of the building as well, each busy in groups with their own tasks. Students were not recruited for this project because, as in the past, the end result was a surprise, only viewed as they entered, on the evening of the Valentines Day Party.

     Although Valentine's Day is stereotypically a couples day, the school stressed no dates to the party.  Lora said that, even so, it always happened that the kids ended up with their steadies, or dates of choice once they arrived.

      "You can't stop love."  Lora joked, and these days she wore the glow of a woman in love herself.

     Crazy contests and games were planned that would include, and interact, each person in attendance. For the games, a certain amount of heart shaped tokens, at this moment, being punched out of poster board, by one group of teachers, would be allotted to each teen upon their entrance. The staff had been busy decorating for the better part of two hours, but completion was near, and the gym would be locked until the big event the next evening.

     As they worked, they kept up a steady stream of chatter, and as they talked, Dakota fought the pensive mood shadowing her relish of the fun they were planning for the teens. Kelli had received an original illustrated card and poem, as well as a DVD made by her husband, in the mail that afternoon. She was already anticipating his promised call the next day. Lora and Steve were both chaperones for the next evening's party, and Dakota had no doubt that Lora would receive flowers from the enamored coach sometime the next day. Lora had bought him a tin of his favorite candy, and had readied it with a red bow. Dakota had done nothing, expected nothing, because she and Evan weren’t on that same plane. Why did that depress her so?

     The next day in her classes, abandoning the regular coarse of study, she taught in each, the history of Valentine's Day, and the mystery that shrouds it. “Today the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine, or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.”

     In each class, a general excitement pervaded the air, as each student looked forward to the nights festivities. “One legend is that Valentine was a Priest who defied the Emperor of Rome’s decree that outlawed marriage for young men because they would make better soldiers without wives and families. In this particular legend, Valentine supposedly married young lovers in secret. For this, he was supposedly put to death.”

      Since it was a week night, the party was scheduled to end at eleven, only four hours long. “Another legend is that Valentine helped Christians escape from the harsh conditions of Roman prisons and was killed for this.”

     Though the party would be short, the heart shaped mini pizza’s, and the silly prizes, like heart emblazoned pajama pants, were anticipated, and projected fun packed four hours for all. “Still another legend holds that Valentine sent the first Valentine Greeting himself, after falling in love with a jailer’s daughter, who visited him during his confinement. Supposedly he wrote her a letter before his death, signing it ‘From Your Valentine’ an expression still used today.”

       The students seemed to welcome this break from their regular studies in history, and the class time went by quickly.

     Dakota showed up for the unveiling, when they unlocked the doors to the students, and let the games begin.  Like the rest of the staff, she dressed to the holiday, wearing jeans and a long sleeved red tee shirt, emblazoned with the words, “Happy Valentines Day.” In keeping with the spirit, silver heart earrings dangled from her ears.