“I spent the whole day at the animal park and Charlie and I have a ton of new ideas. You probably already know everything she’s been doing so far.”
Fletcher nodded. “I’ve helped her develop some of the materials, but we haven’t had time to get it all done or to expand.”
“Yeah, that’s one of the things I got started on,” Jordan said, gesturing at papers around her. “But I was thinking about another idea after I spent some time with Regan Reynolds and one of her patients. You know Regan, right?”
“She worked with a couple of kids in my classroom last year. She saw them at school about once a month so we talked regularly.”
“I think what she’s doing with therapy and the animals is amazing and I was thinking about it a lot.”
“It is cool. The whole town is fascinated. Even if she is a Bad girl.” He grinned.
Autre and Bad, Louisiana, liked to think they were rivals but truthfully, off the high school football field, there wasn’t much for the two towns to not like about one another. The Mayor of Bad, Holly Williams, sometimes bitched about Autre only caring about exploiting the area for tourist money, but everyone in Autre chalked it up to jealousy.
“Regan is great,” Jordan agreed. “And then, on top of everything I learned about her program, I met a little girl.”
“Really? Who?”
“She came down after school. Her name is Sophia.”
Fletcher looked stunned. “Yes. Sophia Abar. She’s actually in my class.”
“I was wondering if you knew her!” She was startled to see that Fletcher looked pained. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. She’s just been having a tough year. What was she doing at the petting zoo?”
“She was talking to Chewpaca, the little alpaca from Iowa.”
“She was talking to him?” Fletcher repeated.
“Yes. About someone who would rub their dog’s nose the way she was rubbing the alpaca. And he just stood there, listening to her. Chewie isn’t even friendly with the other animals, but he stood there at the fence listening to this little girl as if she was the most wonderful thing he’d ever seen. When she found out he doesn’t have a mom and dad, she got incredibly sad and promised him that she would come and visit him all the time.” Jordan had been thinking about Sophia all evening. “I don’t know why, but that just struck me as the most amazing thing. This little girl and this alpaca were having this bonding moment right in front of me.”
Fletcher was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “She lost her dad this summer.” His voice was tight suddenly. “After a long battle with cancer. Everyone in school knew about it all last year. There were fundraisers and things like that. I actually had her older sister in class two years ago.” He took a shaky breath. “When her mom, Ana, came to me late this summer and asked if Sophia could be in my class, I took it as a huge compliment. I thought maybe I could help her move on. You know, now that his battle is over, and they’re past the funeral, and they’ve been in counseling…”
He shook his head sadly. “I thought maybe she was ready to get back to more normal life and back to being a kid again. Those little girls went through hell this past year and had a lot of their normal childhood really taken from them. No kid should go through that.”
Jordan felt a tightness in her chest. That was a heartbreaking story no matter what, but having met Sophia and seen her interaction with Chewie, it took on a whole new meaning.
“She was probably talking to Chewie about her dad.”
Fletcher swallowed hard. “Yeah. And…she literally hasn’t said a word in school since classes started.”
Jordan’s eyes widened. “What? She was so talkative at the petting zoo. Not just to Chewie, but with me as well.”
Fletcher looked down at the floor in front of him. “I was really feeling full of myself. I really thought that being in the fun teacher’s classroom would make all the difference. But I haven’t been able to get through to her.” He looked up. “I haven’t been able to do anything for her.”
Jordan studied him, concerned. Fletcher loved to fix things. It was most often focused on her, but it wasn’t as if he didn’t have that tendency with other people as well. In the Landry family no one person had to be the one fixing everything for everyone, so Fletcher hadn’t felt as much pressure with everyone else. But he certainly loved having the right answers.
As a teacher, he was very gifted. He loved his kids. He loved teaching. He was definitely known as the fun teacher and he enjoyed that reputation. He was early in his career and he probably hadn’t encountered a lot of kids who’d been through tragedy like Sophia had. He was clearly learning that being fun wasn’t always the answer.
“You can’t beat yourself up,” Jordan said gently. “You can’t know what to say and what to do in every single situation for every single person, Fletcher. Every kid, every person, is going to go through that and react to it differently. I know you’re doing your best. You’ve only been in school for a few weeks.”
“I just—” He blew out a breath. “I have no idea what to do. It’s one thing for me to have tried plan A and it didn’t work, so we’ve moved on to plan B or even plan C but...” He shrugged. “I don’t have a plan B. I’m not sure I really even have a plan A.”
“Well, then this is especially good,” Jordan said. “She’s opening up and talking and having a positive experience at the petting zoo. At least there’s that.”
Fletcher nodded. “Of course. That’s awesome.”
Jordan could tell it wasn’t enough though. Of course Fletcher would want to be helping this little girl.
“Talking to both Regan and Sophia today got me thinking about the animals we have. So many of them have special needs. Vincent Van Goat is missing an ear, Hermione is scared of thunderstorms,” Jordan said of the pot-bellied pig. “Chewie lost his mom, Paddington was born with a cleft palate, Reggie only has three legs.” She loved the English bulldog and the dark gray cat already. Reggie got along on his three legs as well as the four-legged felines. It was amazing.
“There are so many animals with varying issues, and I think that instead of just doing presentations about what hedgehogs eat and where lemurs are from and how many pups otters have, we could sometimes go deeper and talk about our animals and their specific issues. What happened, what adjustments we make for them—like how Sylvester is Hermione’s comfort cat—how their issues affect their lives…and how their issues don’t—the ways they have adapted and healed and are just like the other animals. Kids love animals. Animals are so easy to feel sympathy and empathy for, to want to help, to love. I think it could help kids who have their own stuff—anxiety, disabilities, even grief—feel less alone. And it could help other kids accept those differences in their classmates and peers.”
She realized that she was watching Quilly eat as she spoke. She looked up at Fletcher. “Does that make sense?”
He was watching her with a combination of wonder and affection.
“Of course that makes sense. If a kid learns to love and understand and accept an animal with a difference, it can make it a lot easier to talk about how humans with differences need love and acceptance too.”