The Philosophy of You

Chapter 20

Oh, boy. I sure hope Shaw will like this. I walked up the stairs towards the Humanities lounge to see Shaw. I had put together a little holiday gift for him and two other teachers. Each gift consisted of some Lindor chocolates, a holiday card and a personalized painting. For Ms.Chambers and Ms.Kinsley, I chose to paint wintery scenes since its December and in Canada, which really doesn't need much more of an explanation. For Shaw, I had decided to change things up and painted Monty in royal attire, which is probably the best thing you can do for a cat person. Having seen enough pictures of Monty definitely helped and I really enjoyed painting the portrait. 

I went up to the lounge door, inside was Shaw talking with two other teachers. I couldn't see Ms.Kinsley though. One of the teacher, who had been my grade 10 civics teacher, answered, "Can I help you."

Shaw turned around in his chair and looked at me inquisitively as I answered, "I was actually here for Ms.Kinsley and Mr.Shaw."

The teacher responded, "Ms.Kinsley is not here today. Daniel, you're up."

Shaw got up and walked over to where I was standing, "Hey, what's up."

I was nervous, but not for the usual reasons, this time I was anxious to see his reaction, "I got you a gift, you know since it's the holidays."

His face lit up in surprise, "Wow, really? I imagine you were also going to give one to Ms.Kinsley."

"Uh yeah. Happy Holidays." I said as I handed his gift.

He walked back to his desk where he stood opening the gift. He got out the pack of chocolates first and then the card. He didn't open it then but said he'd take the time to read it after. I was weary of his reaction to the card. You see, I had written a little note thanking him for letting me be his assistant and in brackets wrote "Let's do it again next semester" with a smiley face. I knew he wasn't overly fond of the COY class and was kept mentioning how he didn't want to do one next semester.

Impulsively, I worried that I wouldn't get to teach a class next semester, or better yet, I wouldn't be Shaw's assistant. I suppose part of why I loved being the assistant was the fact that Shaw and I made such a good team. Sure, I've said it many times by now but I am always so baffled, as neither of us are "team players" by nature. Regardless, I wrote down the bracket bit hoping that maybe just maybe he'd change his mind knowing I wanted to continue being the assistant to an after school English class.

He thanked me for the gift, but I refuted, "There's something else in there."

He furrowed his brow in confusion as he looked through the bag. I guess the painting had been missed since it was hidden behind the wrapping paper. He found it and took it out. He saw the back of it first which really wasn't special. It just had my signature and the word, "Happy Holidays, Mr.Shaw!". He turned the painting around and gasped at what he saw. 

You know that classic idiom, "like a kid in a candy store", used to explain the sheer joy and unexpected excitement one experiences at times. That's how I'd describe Shaw in the moment, I could've sworn he would've jumped up for joy had he not been in a workplace surrounded by colleagues. He simply stood there, mouth agape, rejoicing at the fact that Monty looked like a British Noble from the renaissance period. 

 He turned towards me, "Thank you so much! It's perfect, I'll cherish it forever."

I sighed in relief, knowing that he loved it. I left down to class, which was just about over. Alisha wasn't here today since there was nothing important being done in class, so I'd be spending World Issues alone. 

The bell rang and I left towards the same stairwell I had just gone up nearly half an hour ago. I got the the bottom of the stairs and was slowly making my way up when I saw Shaw walking down. He noticed me immediately and smiled, "He's wearing a little bow tie! I love him!"