Sweet Companion

Before leaving for work this morning I sat down in the kitchen and complained to my wife how impossible it was to catch up on all the paperwork I have accumulating each day. Then, on my way out the door, complained about running late because of all my complaining. 

When driving down the Bayside Road I could tell I was running late because the school bus up ahead was stopped with it’s yellow blinkers on. On a normal day, I pass this spot before the bus. When running behind, I might have to stop and wait for kids to get on. Seeing the bus fold up its stop sign and drive away before I even got there was a signal I was later than normal.

When I turned into the parking lot at school it was empty, which was odd because I was running late. I briefly considered parking in the last spot on the right, where the blue car normally is, but it felt a little like stealing, so I parked in my normal spot one space over.

While walking toward the building someone drove by and waved at me with a little wry smile, which also felt odd. When I entered the building it looked like some sort of black screen was stretched across the end of the hall, which was definitely odd. Then I realized it was simply that the lights were off in the lobby area and everything was dark. Was it possible school had been cancelled? 

While heading towards my room everything felt deserted, though I saw a P.E. teacher and a custodian. I stopped outside Taylor’s room and listened, but heard nothing. She is always there before me. The room across from mine was closed, and now I felt pretty sure school had been called off. I stepped into my room, opened up my laptop, and checked my email. Yep. A message had gone out that school was cancelled and the building was not open to staff. Whoops. 

On the way home I stopped by my wife’s work and she bought me a maple oat-milk latte from the ramshackle-yet-still-hoity-toity place across the lot. It was good but they spelled my name wrong on the cup. It was really nice to sit on some bagged up piles of fertilizer and chat with my wife for awhile before heading home. She’s a real sweetheart.