A Dream of Interesting Minutia

No one was covering the car arrivals, so a teacher was out there standing in the parking lot with a toddler beside her. I told an administrator because of course this would never do. “What if she has to run off, leave the area in case of emergency?” I pointed out. It was not unheard of. The kid would be there alone, or she’d have to try to carry him? It would be a major liability.

Inside the school, I helped a little bit. It was to be my last day here. I went to the middle grade area to sit in for a teacher first. I wasn’t sure where they were, for the classroom was stacked so high with junk, I couldn’t see in. I stuck my head in a little as an afterthought as I prepared to go inquire. A teacher’s voice called out meekly. “Ms. Wonder?” Well, she’d got my name wrong, but I replied in the affirmative. They were all sitting in there, lined up in desks just past the initial wall of rubbish, and there was more detritus everywhere you looked. No one spoke.

I took them to an auditorium. We sat for quite some time. A huge, glowing, green screen was mounted on the front of a podium on a tall stage, front and center. It showed a crest for the school. A woman and girl of Middle Eastern descent entered through an entrance from outside, just behind the stage. The girl was somber, dressed in a white shirt, with her pretty black hair cut rather short about her somewhat pudgy face. Not one kid spoke to her, though she’d been their classmate before dropping out only a few months ago. The mother was here to officially withdraw her now.

The act was done by a staff member who’d come in for this reason. Taking her bank card, the transaction was made. On the screen, the green color remained, but the words ‘transfer successful’ came on. I was horrified by this. If the card were declined, it was obvious this would’ve been apparent to all the children. Maybe the green screen would have shifted to red?

I went back to my area for a minute and came to supervise the kids’ entry to the cafeteria. Someone had been covering the duty for me. How could this have happened? I’d had 5 minutes, and that should’ve been ample time! I had seen another woman who’d been a close associate. But we hadn’t greeted one another, both intent on our own little missions. Could that have slowed me down?

I covered watching the next class while they filed into the cafe’ to compensate for the teacher who’d done it for me. She was the actual teacher of the middle graders and had thought it rich that this could happen. She was glad to see it was not just her, I think, that this type thing could happen so easily.

I wandered about the lobby for a minute or two. The trophy case was an embarrassment, holding yard sale clutter that’d been thrown in. The headmistress came to the foyer to let me know she’d observed my idle snooping around on the new, flashy security cameras. I went back into the auditorium in hopes of showing her what an awful system they had of guarding personal financial info. A man who was substituting that day came in and asked how to spell a word. We told him and he left. Seeing the problem with the payment program, the headmistress chastened some. But then she returned directly to her office to tend the cameras, no doubt.

The same male sub returned and asked for the spelling of a synonym of the first word he’d needed. I gave it him. On impulse I suggested a third word meaning the same thing that was several syllables shorter. He really smiled over that one, nodding his head in obvious satisfaction. He was setting out large photos. I saw they were of me, some from very long ago, some from the prior decade here at this very workplace. So, they’d have my ceremonial party today, and he was setting up. I didn’t need the extra pounds I’d be putting on, in this case. Yet I knew instinctively I’d partake of it all nonetheless, for who doesn’t like rich and sweet delights?