Sweet Caroline

#49 Little kids with big questions

"Miss Collins?"

I look down and smile at Manny Thompson who is pulling at my shirt. "Manny, what did I tell you about pulling at my shirt?"

He drops his hand to his side and sighs. "It's not polite."

"Exactly. Now, what's going on?" Tiffany and I let the kids out to the playground for half an hour because there was something in the air today that makes them all act like crazy. They really need to get all that restless energy out some way. Maybe it is going to storm or something – sometimes that brings out this wild side in the kids. Manny is great at getting into fights, so I was used to kids coming over to tell me he was at it again, but for him to be the one to come to me? I wonder what is going on.

"Who is picking me up today?" he asks softly.

Oh. It's about his parents. I drop to my knees so I'm on eyelevel with him. "Your dad is picking you up today," I tell him. "Remember? Your mom is on a trip. She won't be back until Saturday."

Manny's lip quivers. "I miss mom."

I did not expect that, honestly. The Thompson brothers love their father and so far, I haven't seen them being close with their mother ever. Not even once. She usually just storms in, yells at me for something and takes off with the kids on her days with them. Of course, I don't see Mr. Thompson around school anymore since he pulled that little stunt with me.

"Maybe you can ask your dad if you can call your mother?" I propose, putting a hand on Manny's shoulder. "I'm sure she'd love to talk to you."

He shakes his head. "Dad says she's too busy screwing her new boyfriend to talk to us."

Oh boy. What am I supposed to say now? Normally, I'd call in their father after school, but there is now way in hell I am going to invite Michael Thompson into my classroom ever again.

"Do you want to..." I hesitate, not sure if I should do this or not. It's not forbidden to allow a kid to call their mother, yet it's also not something teachers often do. Especially not when said parents are in a custody battle. "Do you want me to call your mother for you?"

"You can do that?" Manny asks, eyes wide.

"I don't know if she'll pick up, but I can try," I promise him.

He hugs me so tightly that I know I'm making the right call. Hell, I am already breaking rules by dating Nathan. I've been making my peace with the fact that I'll probably need to find a job at a different school next year, so I might as well try to help as much kids as possible. And having a good relationship with both of his parents will help Manny Thompson more than me sticking to protocol.

I tell Tiffany to watch my kids for a minute while I go inside to talk to the headmaster for a minute. Even if I'm okay with doing something that will piss off Mr. Thompson, I should give Jeff a head's up. He's on the phone when open the doorto his office, but he gestures for me to take a seat anyway.

"Love you too, honey," he says, smiling. It's his wife. How cute that he still looks like that when he's talking to her, even though they've been together for so many years already. "See you tonight."

When he hangs up the phone, I tell him about my talk with Manny and my decision to call Mallory so Manny and Tommy can talk to her for a moment.

Jeff grunts and shakes his head. "I'm not gonna stop you, Caroline, but I think we can both agree that it'd be more productive to talk to both parents and tell them that their kids are suffering from their stupidity. Not in those exact words, of course. If this was anyone else, would you go behind the father's back and call his ex-wife during school hours?"