Katie had just turned the page when they began hearing sirens, and the moment she heard them, her stomach was in knots. She knew whatever was happening, Sam was involved. And from the looks on Beth and Evie’s faces, so did they.
Katie kept on reading, adding more emotion and making funny faces, and when the sirens stopped, she and the children relaxed.
And then they heard a whole new set of sirens, and Katie took a deep breath. Ambulance and police sirens did not sound alike, and if she wasn’t mistaken, those were ambulances. More than one.
Beth sat up and reached for Evie’s hand. Unlike the other children in the class, they had a daddy who was always involved with those sounds, and they were worried all over again.
Katie paused in the story and leaned forward.
“Whatever is happening, all of you are safe right here in our room. So let’s finish the story and then I have a little treat for everyone.”
The idea of a treat was interesting, and the children calmed again, but even as Katie was finishing the story, sirens fired up again. By now, she was sick to her stomach and trying not to let it show.
As soon as she was finished reading, she shut the book and put it aside. She knew Evie and Beth were bordering on panic, so she called them up and put them to work.
“Everyone go get back in your seats. Beth and Evie, I need helpers. Will you please come to my desk?”
The twins bounced as they jumped up and then hurried across the room. Katie got a grocery bag out of the storage closet and set it on the floor beside her desk. Then she got a package of napkins from the bottom drawer of her desk and handed them to Evie.
“Evie, would you please put a napkin at everyone’s place? I know you know how to do this because you set the table at your home.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said, and started at the nearest table.
“And Beth, I’m going to need you to put one of these little snacks on top of each napkin. I’ll carry the bag, and you get them out for me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Beth said, and marched along beside Katie as they went from chair to chair, giving each student a snack-size bag of pretzels.
Then they served themselves and sat down, and the chatter began.
“Remember to use your inside voices,” Katie said.
They giggled, and nodded, and tore into the bags.
Katie returned the extras to her storage closet and went back to her desk with a bag of pretzels for herself. She tore into the bag and popped a crunchy little twist in her mouth, letting the salt melt on her tongue before she chewed.
The kids had calmed. The scary time had passed, and then she got another text. To hell with rules, Katie thought, and grabbed the phone. She’d hoped it was from Sam, and it was. The message was a huge relief, and at the same time, she guessed something bad had happened. Just not to him.
She got up and walked over to where the girls were sitting and squatted down beside them long enough to deliver a message.
“Girls, your daddy wants you to know he’s fine, and he’ll see you later.”
Their relief was visible.
“Yay,” Evie said.
“Yes, yay,” Beth echoed.
Katie stood, touched the backs of their heads, and then walked around the room, talking to the kids, making sure they all had a measure of her attention.
“I like these,” Thor said.
“I do, too,” Katie said, and winked, and then moved toward Ree, who was carefully looking over every pretzel before putting it in her mouth. The little girl wouldn’t look up, and Katie wasn’t about to force her to interact, but as a teacher, she felt warning bells going off.
“When you finish, you know where to put your trash,” Katie said, and one by one, the children finished and cleaned up behind themselves.
When the bell rang to go home, Katie had already sorted her bus riders, car riders, and the ones who walked home into three different groups before they filed out of their room and down the hall. Doors were banging. Kids were running, and someone shouted, “No running in the hall!” Katie broke out in a cold sweat and kept walking, making sure with every step that her kids were still with her.
As soon as they were out the door, she herded her separate groups to the designated on-duty teachers getting children in the right transportation groups and headed home, because once school was out, lingering on the school grounds was not allowed.
Katie saw Roxie in the line for car riders and watched as she picked up Sam’s girls. She saw Justin Dooley drive up in a shiny black truck to get his son, Thor, and saw Frieda Tiller picking up her three boys. Donny ran headlong into his mama’s arms, talking with great animation as she loaded them all into her car.
And in the middle of the chaos, Ree Phillips began moving herself into a panic when she didn’t see her mother’s car. The teacher on car duty was trying to calm Ree down when Katie saw Ree in hysterics and hurried over.
“What’s wrong, sugar?” Katie said.
“Mama’s not here. I can’t go home without Mama,” she cried.
Katie knelt down beside her and pulled her close.
“You aren’t going to be left alone. I’m right here with you until your mother arrives, okay?”
Still sobbing, Ree nodded and leaned into Katie’s arms.
Then all of a sudden, a light-blue car pulled up, and the driver was honking. The door opened, and an older woman came flying out of her car, calling Ree by name.
“I’m here, ReeRee. Granny’s here!” she cried, and then swept Ree up into her arms. Ree tucked her face against her grandmother’s neck and held on for dear life. Pansy looked straight at Katie. “I’m Ree’s grandmother, Pansy Fields. I am allowed to pick Ree up when the need arises. Cheryl, Ree’s mother, is in the hospital. I’m sorry I was late. I got here as quick as I could. Cheryl is going to be fine, but she’s there for a couple of days.”
Ree started sobbing. “I want my mama.”
Pansy rocked Ree in her arms.
“You’re coming home with me, darlin’. And you’ll be staying with me until Mama can go home. And don’t worry about anything. Not anymore. Do you understand? We know what’s been happening. You’re safe, baby, you’re safe now.”
And then she carried Ree away, leaving the teachers in shock.
“What was all that about?” Susan asked.
“I don’t know,” Katie said. “The parents weren’t at Back to School night, so I never met them, and this is Ree’s first day with me.” And then she lowered her voice. “All I know is she wouldn’t eat the Goldfish crackers that were sent for her snack because they were smiling and she couldn’t look at their faces, and then the paper she turned in to me was almost impossible to read because the writing was so tiny. It’s like she doesn’t want to be seen. She was trying to be invisible. I had already made a note on my daily log to talk to you about her,” Katie said.