Katie turned. She didn’t know what the pool was about, but she’d already met the janitor weeks ago. He was a short, sixtysomething man with bow legs and gray hair that stood up like the crest on a woodpecker. And as always, in denim overalls and a plaid short-sleeve shirt. He was coming up the hall carrying a clipboard.
“Mornin’, ladies. Y’all want in on the Puke Pool?”
Katie blinked. “Uh…what on earth is the puke pool?”
John looked at Marcy and winked.
“You mean you ain’t told her about the pool yet?”
Marcy shrugged. “Not exactly. You tell her.”
John nodded, and then focused on Katie. “What you do is put a dollar in the pot, then pick a day, a time, and a teacher who you think will have the first kid to puke in the new school year. The one who gets the teacher and the closest time right gets the jackpot money to use in her room.”
Katie laughed. “Are you serious?”
John nodded. “Yes, ma’am, I sure am. So are you in or not?”
“I’m in,” Marcy said, and ran to get a dollar.
“I guess I’m in, too,” Katie said, and did the same.
Marcy paid up, then chose a second-grade teacher and three days away at 12:30 p.m.
Katie chose the pre-K teacher at 9:00 a.m. today, then gave John her dollar.
John saw her pick and chuckled. “You ain’t got much faith in four-year-olds, do you?”
“I’ve taught pre-K. There are always one or two who will be so upset to be away from Mama that they’ll either throw up, wet their pants, cry all day, or a combination of all three.”
“You ain’t wrong about that,” John said, and wandered off, still running down teachers to finish out the pool before the last bell rang.
Katie was still talking to Marcy when they began seeing students in the halls, and when Katie recognized some of hers, she waved.
As she greeted every student, they in turn saw the additions to the bulletin board and started pointing and talking.
“Miss Katie. I see my name in the garden!”
“ I know! I planted you there,” she said.
“Is that a gummy worm?” a little boy asked.
Katie nodded. “Yes. And it might eat up my garden. So when noon comes, I’ll need all of you to pick your worm out of the garden and take it with you to lunch. Instead of that worm eating our garden, you can eat the worm!”
That seemed to be the funniest thing to all of them. Their laughter filled her up.
And then she saw Evie and Beth coming down the hall hand in hand with their backpacks bobbing. They began waving when they saw her.
“Good morning, Miss Katie,” they said, and then both of them saw the candy worms all over the garden.
“There are worms in the garden!” Evie cried.
“Worms!” Beth echoed.
Katie nodded. “Yes, and when we go to lunch, you’ll have to get the one by your name to keep it from eating up the garden.”
“Yay!” Beth said. “I love gummies.”
“We love gummies,” Evie said, confirming her sister’s statement, and then they went into the room.
One of the last students to arrive was Donny Tiller, and he was running.
He got to the doorway just as the last bell rang.
Katie gave him a quick pat on the back.
“Good morning, Donny. Happy first day of school.”
He was a little breathless but beaming as he slipped into the room.
Katie walked in behind him, counting heads as she went, and the morning began.
***
As soon as Sam dropped the girls off at school, he reminded them that Roxie would be picking them up and taking them home, and then waited until he saw them running inside before he drove away.
He had a stop to make before he headed to the station and went straight to the florist. It had been years since he’d bought anyone flowers, but he wanted Katie to know he was thinking of her.
He pulled up to the curb in front of Billie’s Blooms just as she was turning the CLOSED sign to OPEN. When Billie Woods saw the chief getting out to come inside, she held the door for him.
“Good morning, Chief.”
“I know it’s early. Are you open for business?” Sam asked.
“Absolutely,” Billie said. “Come on in.”
Sam was assailed by the aromas of floral foam, eucalyptus, and flowers as he entered the shop.
“Do you want to browse, or do you know what you want?” Billie asked.
“I know. I want a large bouquet of mixed flowers…the more pastel colors you can put in it, the better.”
Billie was at the register now, writing up the work order. “Okay. Do you want us to deliver, or are you picking it up?”
“Deliver, please. I’ve got to get to work,” Sam said.
“Who do you want it sent to?”
“Katie McGrath, at the elementary school. She’s the new first-grade teacher.”
Billie’s eyes widened. She quit writing and looked up.
“What do you want to put on the card?”
“I’ll write my own,” Sam said, then chose a card and envelope from the rack and began writing. When he was finished, he put it in the envelope and sealed it. “Here you go,” he said.
“Right,” Billie said, and paper-clipped the envelope to the work order. “Did you have a price in mind?”
“No. Just make it pretty and feminine…and get it to her this morning as soon as possible, and bill me for whatever it costs.”
“Yes, sir,” Billie said. “I’ll get right on it.”
“Thanks,” Sam said, and left the shop.
Billie was on the phone to Louise Parsons before he backed away from the curb, and the moment Louise answered, she started talking.
“Hey, girl, it’s me, Billie. You will not believe who was just in here ordering flowers before I barely got the shop open.”
“You woke me up, so it better be good,” Louise mumbled.
“Sam Youngblood just ordered a big bouquet of cut flowers delivered to the new first-grade teacher. He signed the card himself and sealed it up so I couldn’t see it. He’s sweet on the teacher!”
Louise chuckled. “Well, what do you know… My instinct to rent my little jewel to the new teacher is turning out to be more than a good thing for me. I’m thrilled. I hope it lasts. Sam deserves happiness, and so does Katie McGrath.”