Winter Season

Rabbit hole

The first day of school happened right on schedule. No ice storm hit the area.

Christmas break was much too short.

This day had been a nightmare. He was so emotionally drained that it worried him a little. Days like this made him want to quit teaching. With his head pounding, he laid in the floor to relieve some of the tension he felt.

Esther had watched him from her window. She was waiting for him to come home. She wanted to do something nice for him, beings it was the first day of school and all. After a couple minutes watching the house, she braced herself against the cold and went over. The first ring of the door bell received no reply.

All Oscar really wanted was the quiet desperation of his sanctuary or Esther’s touch whichever one he could get. And at the moment, it was the quietness of his house.

One more ring, if she got no reply she’d go back home. Then she thought she should tell him who was at the door. “Oscar, it’s me.” His heart skipped a beat, Esther. He wanted to be near her. But in all honesty he couldn’t get out of the floor.

“Come in.”

He had locked the door and she had to use her key. She peeked through the door. “Oscar?”

“Come on in. Forgive me, if I don’t get up.”

The cold draft from the open door soothed his throbbing head.

“O, are you okay?”

“Not really.”

He was lying in the floor between the couch and the coffee table. His coat, shoes, and work bag were lying in a heap beside the couch. This was not normal behavior.

Esther sat down, gliding his head to her lap before tracing; with the greatest care all around his face with her finger tips. She was working magic. All of the stress of the day melted like butter in the sun.

“I wanted to do something nice for you since it was the first day of school. Like fix supper or take you out.”

“You are doing something nice for me.” He whispered.

“Are you able to talk about it?”

“When I first started teaching, it was about the science. It was fun. Now it’s about making sure John gets an A so he can play football.  Mary doesn’t understand why her son is failing basic science, after all his daddy cooks meth. Suzie is too pretty to give a rat’s rump about the world being flat. She has to try out for cheerleading. And did you see the size of Tiffany’s breast implants. I can’t believe she got the best Christmas present eeevvveer! Oh, I’m sorry Mr. Patterson, the world is round.” He mocked her little giggle. “It’s enough to drive you insane.”

“How long have you been teaching?”

“99.”

“Wow.”

“As soon as I finished student teaching; I started work. I’m about ready to jump off the deep end.”

“Please don’t jump.”

“You could jump with me.”

“Now wouldn’t that be interesting; company in the rabbit hole.”

With great difficultly he got up to where he was leaning against the couch. Though his head wasn’t pounding anymore, his body was weak. One leg was flat on the floor and the knee of his other leg was pointed toward the ceiling. She thought Oscar looked sleek and kinda sexy setting like that.

Winter Season