“Oh yeah? So what do you know about her?” Billie asked.
“Enough,” Louise said. “But she’s one in a million, for sure.”
“Okay… Well, I gotta get busy on that bouquet. Chief wants it delivered this morning. That man don’t mess around. Sorry I woke you,” Billie said.
“That’s okay. This is the kind of news worth waking up for,” Louise said, and hung up.
Billie pinned back her curls, put on a work apron over her jeans and shirt, and headed for the cooler to get the flowers. Her husband, Hershel, drove the delivery van so she sent him a text not to dawdle over morning coffee. They had an important delivery to make.
***
Today was about the students learning rules of the room, and for Katie to see how far along they were educationally.
She was delighted to see they could all write their names and count aloud to ten. However, a couple had problems writing the numbers, which told her they’d memorized the order without knowing which number went with the amount it represented.
Then they all had a turn sitting in front of the computer, turning it on, finding how to click on a link, and how to mute it.
And then she went through the rules about talking in class, using their inside voices, and then reminded them to get their school supplies out of their backpacks and put them in their cubbies.
That took them through midmorning, and Katie wanted them to refocus and knew just how to do it.
“Okay, boys and girls, if you will please choose a seat at the big round tables, we’re going to have snack time.”
One little boy’s hand shot up in the air. “Miss Katie! I don’t have a snack.”
A couple more kids echoed the same complaint.
“It’s okay. I brought enough snacks for the first week of school because it’s hard to get everything organized. I have been assured there are no food allergies in our class, so if you brought a snack, go get it before you sit down. If you did not, just sit down and hold up your hand and I’ll bring it to you.”
Evie and Beth jumped up to go get their snacks out of their backpacks.
“We have chips and hummus dip, Miss Katie,” Evie said.
“We like it,” Beth added.
“A good, healthy snack,” Katie said.
“Daddy says we have to eat it because we threw a hissy fit in Welby’s to get it,” Beth said.
Katie grinned. “Have you had it before?”
They nodded.
“And did you like it?” she asked.
“It’s okay. It tastes like pudding without the sugar,” Evie said.
“Without the sugar,” Beth added. “Next time, we’re not having hissy fits.”
It was all Katie could do not to laugh. “Good choices,” she said.
Then she went about the room, passing out snacks for those who didn’t have any, and Donny Tiller was one of them.
“My mama gets paid today,” he whispered. “I’ll have a snack tomorrow.”
“That’s okay, Donny. I have a snack for you today,” she said.
Thor Dooley had a beef jerky stick and a juice box, but couldn’t get the wrapping off the jerky.
“Miss Katie, I need help,” he said, waving the stick of jerky in the air.
Katie moved across the room to where Thor was sitting.
“I can’t get the wrapper off,” he said.
“I can help,” Katie said, and quickly peeled it down like a banana, leaving wrapper on the bottom half to keep the snack from being messy, then handed it to him. “Here you go.”
Thor took a big bite and started chewing and talking at the same time.
“My daddy eats steaks. This here is like a little rolled-up piece of steak.”
“Need any help with your juice box?” Katie asked.
He nodded. “I’m tough like Daddy, but I’m not so strong yet. But I will be. I’m a-learnin’ how to be a man.”
“I think you’re just right,” Katie said as she opened his juice box and poked in the straw, wondering what the hell else they were drilling into this little boy’s head in an effort to “make a man” out of him.
Katie straightened up and glanced around the room, making sure everyone had a snack and a drink, and then noticed one little girl sitting quietly to herself. Her name was Ariana Phillips, but she wouldn’t answer to anything but Ree. She had a little plastic bag with Goldfish crackers in front of her she had yet to open.
Katie moved over to where she was sitting.
“Ree, do you need help opening your snack bag?”
“No, ma’am,” she whispered.
“Are you just not hungry?” Katie asked.
Still whispering, she leaned close to Katie. “I can’t eat them.”
Katie frowned. “Why not?”
Ree whispered in Katie’s ear.
“They have faces. I can’t eat something that’s looking at me.”
Katie opened the bag and took out one goldfish. Sure enough, the crackers were smiling.
“What if you turn them around and just eat the tails and leave the heads in the sack? Want to try that?” Katie asked.
Ree’s eyes widened. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“I’ll open the sack and you get one and try it,” Katie said.
“But what will I do with the heads?” Ree asked.
“You can toss them out in the grass at home to feed the birds,” Katie said.
Ree was frowning when she pulled a goldfish out of her snack bag, then turned it around between her tiny fingers and bit it in half, laid the head on the table, and chewed.
“Okay?” Katie asked.
Ree nodded and pulled another cracker out, bit off the tail and began making a pile of the goldfish heads.
“Good job,” Katie said, and walked away, leaving Ree to behead the rest of her snacks.
This behavior bothered Katie. Ree was one of the students who hadn’t come to Back to School night, so she knew nothing about her family.
Chapter Seventeen
The kids were cleaning up their tables and tossing trash in the trash can when there was a knock at Katie’s door, and then the school secretary opened it and walked in, carrying the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers Katie had ever seen—a plethora of pale pinks, lush lilac, sunshine yellows, deep mauve, and light-blue flowers among tendrils of dark-green ivy.