1985 (h.s.)

Chapter Forty Three

Harry

"You must be Harry! I'm Jacklynn's father!"  A red-headed father greeted me at the door of my assigned classroom. Working at the daycare was something new and fun for me. I was in charge of a small group of five-year-olds. Most of which had some variation of a learning disability. There were about eight or so that showed up daily and a few extra on the weekends. My job was to keep them entertained all while teaching them life skills that they may find difficult to learn on their own.

Jacklynn looked almost identical to her dad, though she was a few feet shorter and had curly orange locks. She had a processing disorder which made it especially hard for her to read, write, and acknowledge social cues.

She was a fiery little one. Her hair matched her personality perfectly. Little jokes and comments flew out of her mouth left and right. She never failed to put a smile on my face. 

Unlike the other students, she was dependent on me most of the time therefore we had gotten close. All of the other staff refused to work with her. It was a shame they didn't get to experience the joy she brought. Their excuse was that she took too much time and that they couldn't focus on the other children in the room.

From the reading corner, the young girl skipped to standing beside me. Her ringlets were disheveled and falling in front of her face. She was missing one of her front teeth making her smile even more contagious than it already was. Her small pale fingers wrapped around my thumb to stabilize her stance. 

Her dad, who was no more than two inches taller than me, bent down to her level. He spread his arms wide, accepting his daughter's frail body into his rather built one. He was such a good dad and had to raise Jacklynn on his own. His wife died while birthing her. It was an unfortunate misfortune, but his response to everybody's reaction was 'Everything happens for a reason and now I have my darling, Jackie'.

"Daddy I had a happy day with Ha-hazza!" she squealed. Pronouncing my name was a challenge for her so I gained the nickname of Hazza. It was cute. The other workers thought it was ridiculous for a child her age to still be as child-like as she was. She was still a child which confused me even more. 

"Really? What did you do today baby girl?" Her dad lifted her from the ground and she rested on his hip. Jacklynn put her finger to her puffed out lip while trying to remember her exciting day.

"We read a whole book today daddy! It was about a girl who fell down a hole! There was a bunny rabbit too! Hazza made a funny voice for him! Show him Hazza!" She giggled while reciting the tale we read today.

"I'm late for a very important date!" I recalled with a scurried tone. This made the child's cheeks cherry red as her body shook with uncontainable laughter. Her dad let out a hearty laugh at his daughter's behavior.

"Were we so super good today for Hazza?"  Her dad asked her. Jacklynn was good a majority of the time. She was still five so she had her quirks. Being around the other kids was overwhelming for her which is why she liked the reading corner. She didn't do as much reading as she did playing with the stuffed animals arranged back there.

She often made them talk to each other and have tea parties. Every once in awhile she'd allow a fellow classmate or myself to come and join them. I didn't pressure her at all because I wouldn't want to overwhelm her. Keeping her and the other children comfortable was my job. 

"Mhmm," she nodded, "I also had a snack. It was a apple! Peanut butter too! Yummy in my tummy!" she rubbed her belly.

"That's daddy's favorite!" he looked his daughter in the eyes and then turned to me, "Thank you so much for dealing with her. I understand it can be a lot sometimes, but I appreciate it."