Kinbaku-bi

Turkey Club

The children were dismissed from class for lunch. I use this time to decompress, prepare my notes for the afternoon lessons, send out emails, and how could I forget: eat. Dammit, once again, I forgot to bring my lunch bag to work. I'll settle on some snacks from the vending machine. I go to the teacher's lounge. I get a good whiff of used coffee filters and Mrs. Carol's perfume. It's as if she sprays the entire bottle on her before she leaves the house. It tracks everywhere in the school. Luckily it doesn't smell too bad; it just reminds me of my grandmother.

I make my way to the vending machine. All of the other teachers bought the good stuff. Now I'm left with choosing between Chex Mix, Fritos, a Milky Way, and a Three Musketeers. I'll take my chances with these stale ass Chex Mix. How they're still in business, I'm not sure. Luckily I have a water jug by my desk because I don't want any of that coffee. They never have creamer or sugar in the office, and I always forget to bring my creamer to the school.

I walk back into my classroom and take a seat in my chair. With a look of disgust on my face, I open my bag of Chex Mix and begin eating them. While doing so, I start to scroll through my emails. The principal of our school, Mr. Benson, sent out a mass email to all of the teachers reminding us that parent-teacher conferences are tomorrow evening from 6 pm to 8 pm. I glanced down at my calendar and realized that I'd put those conferences on the back burner in my brain for weeks. Mr. Benson has been telling us about these conferences for a while. How did I manage to forget? I'm not sure.

I know my students' parents will be pissed because I waited until the last minute to inform them. I'll take the chastising from Mr. Benson another day. I reach into my file cabinet and start looking for the folder containing my students' contact information. I found it, sat back down, and began to draft a mass email to all of my students' parents. Some parents gave me email addresses, some gave me phone numbers, and some gave me both. I sent the email to those who gave me email addresses, of course. Now I have to make phone calls to the rest. Luckily there are only three parents that gave me phone numbers because I'm not trying to be on the phone my entire lunch. The first two parents didn't pick up the phone, so I left a voicemail talking about tomorrow's conferences. The last parent surprisingly went against the grain and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, yes, is this Mrs. Desandrea Howard? I am Ms. Kidd, Prince's fourth-grade teacher."

"Ms. Howard. May I help you?"

"Oh, I apologize for that. I didn't mean to offend you. I wanted to call you and inform you that parent-teacher conferences will be held tomorrow evening between 6 pm-8 pm. Will you be able to make it?"

"Give me one second to check my schedule."

As I'm waiting for Ms. Howard to give me a response. I continue to bury myself in Chex Mix's misery. I open up my water jug and begin to guzzle down water. I may forget some things, but one thing I do not play about is my water intake. As I'm swallowing my last gulp of water. Ms. Howard comes back onto the phone.

"Was this parent-teacher conference put together last minute? Prince hasn't brought it up to me at all these past few weeks. Last year in the third grade, Prince and I knew about conferences at least a couple weeks before."

As I am sitting here listening to this woman get in my ass about notifying her so late, I can't help but notice how calm and respectful she is while doing it. I can't even be upset.

"Um, yes, Ms. Howard. It was a mistake on my behalf. I neglected to notify all parents because- I know this will sound very unprofessional and careless of me- but the conferences honestly slipped my mind."

At this moment, I knew that the calm and respectful demeanor of hers was about to go out of the window. She probably feels like I'm incompetent and not fit to be a teacher. Lord, I hope she doesn't inform my boss about this because I love my job.

There was a brief silence. She let out an exhale.

"Ms. Kidd, you said conferences were from 6 pm until 8 pm, correct?'

"Yes, ma'am, from 6 pm until 8 pm."

"Okay, I will be there. Thank you for notifying me. Luckily I didn't have anything planned tomorrow evening."

At this moment, I realized that the grace of God saved my ass. But then I realized that I have an appointment with one of my clients that evening. I opened up my calendar on my cell phone and realized I have an appointment scheduled tomorrow at 7:30 pm. Fuck. I'm going to have to push him back for at least two hours. I'm sure he won't be happy with that. He's been begging for me to fit him into my schedule for weeks now. He'll be okay, though. I'll text him and let him know about the delay.

"Ms. Kidd? Are you still there?"

"Oh, yes! I'm sorry. I was reading an email that my boss sent me. Thank you for being so understanding. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow evening!"

"Likewise. Have a good rest of your day, Ms. Kidd."

"You do the same, Ms. Howard."

I hang up my classroom phone and let out an exhale. Ms. Howard was more understanding than a lot of these parents here. Most parents here will try to blame their child's subpar grades on me as if I'm the one failing the tests for them. Tomorrow I need to thank her again for sparing me.

I reach into my Chex Mix bag just to realize that there are only crumbs left in the bottom of the bag. I fix the bag to pour the rest of the crumbs into my mouth—such a fulfilling lunch. My stomach is going to growl in the middle of my lesson. As I'm throwing the chip bag in the trash can, Prince walks in with his lunch bag.

"How was your lunch, Ms. Kidd?"

I looked up from the trash can and said, "Delightful.".

"Well, I see that you only ate that bag of Chex Mix. I know that didn't fill you up."

I chuckle to myself. This boy is observant for his age. The rest of his classmates are outside playing tag on the playground. Why is he in here asking me about my flimsy ass lunch? I'm surprised that he cares.

"The Chex Mix will have to do for now. I left my lunch bag at home because I was rushing to come here."

"Well, my mom always taught me that you think and work best on a full stomach. I know you're probably still hungry. I have half of my turkey club sandwich left that my mom made for me. She always fills my lunch bag with too much food. I will never finish it."

He laughs a little bit after that statement. Who would've thought that a little boy would be offering my grown-ass his lunch? Why is he so generous? Whatever Ms. Howard is teaching him at home is working. This boy is so sweet.

"Now Prince, I can't possibly take your lunch from you. You're my student. You need your lunch more than I do."

"It's okay, Ms. Kidd. I am full, trust me."

Prince reaches in his lunch bag and hands me his perfectly plastic-wrapped sandwich. It looks like he didn't touch it at all. But god damn, does this sandwich look good. How do I turn something that looks this delicious down? I'm not. I let out a sigh.

"Thank you, Prince. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome, Ms. Kidd."

He goes back to his desk, where his backpack is sitting under it neatly. He unzips it and places his lunch bag in his backpack.

"Enjoy your lunch, Ms. Kidd!"

He begins to jog out of the classroom. He instantly catches himself because he knows that running is not allowed in the hallways. I look out the window and see him joining in on a game of freeze tag with his friends. He seems to be so happy, smiling from ear to ear. If only adulthood were as simple as being a child. His smile was contagious. This kid is truly something special. Fuck, now I have to call my client.