WHY I TEACH-Part 26: Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead

I braced myself when I heard the familiar clip clop of square heals. The devil emerged from the hallway with an evil grin on her face. She stopped when she saw me sitting at my desk.

“I just wanted to let you know that I have a good friend in Athens. I like to go up there on the weekends,” she said.

I stared blankly at her.

“I was up there this weekend and I saw you with those students.” She put her hands on her hips sneered.

I shook my head. “That’s all been cleared up. It appears to be a simple misunderstanding by a truly stupid person.”

The devil took a step forward. “Are you calling me stupid?”

I placed my palms down on my desk and slowly stood up. “Truly.”

She let out a huff and turned. “I’m so grateful I don’t have to deal with you anymore.”

I sat back down and waited for the sound of her clip clopping to subside, then I jumped up and sprinted to Mr. B.’s room.

“Have you heard anything?” I blurted out.

Mr. B. looked up from the machine he was working on. “I hear a lot of things.”

“About the devil? She just left my room and said she was grateful to not have to deal with me anymore.”

Mr. B. smiled. “That would be amazing. Unless that means you’re getting fired.”

“Ugh.” I exhaled as if punched in the gut. I sat at the nearest desk. “Do you think that’s what she meant?”

“I honestly don’t know, but give me a day, I’ll find out.”

It took me a minute before I could stand. I’d never been fired from a job before. As a teacher, there’s always this dread to not get your contract renewed every year, but I never thought I’d have to worry about that.

“Don’t worry about it,” Mr. B. said with a reassuring smile. “I’ll find out what’s going on.”

I went back to my classroom and pulled up the schedule for industry certification. I noticed a mandatory 3-day training less than a month away.

I pulled up the time-off system and requested the days I needed. Within minutes, I received a notice that Mr. Myers had denied my request.

I shook my head, placed my palms on my desk, slowly stood, and mumbled the words, “Truly stupid”. I took a deep breath and headed out of my classroom, down my hallway, and out the door to Mr. Myers’ office.

Mrs. Orian’s desk was empty, so I went to Mr. Myers’ door and knocked. I didn’t wait for him to respond. I opened the door and walked in.

I seem to have caught Mr. Myers doing something he shouldn’t have been doing. He appeared to be quite startled as he looked at me and then to his computer screen. His face grew red as he quickly stood and then immediately sat back down. “What are you doing in here?” he barked.

I took a step toward him and he quickly moved his mouse and clicked several times. “You denied my leave.”

“You don’t need to go anywhere.” His face grew even redder.

“I do, actually. I have to attend a 3-day mandatory training for industry certification. If I don’t go, then we can’t do industry certification.”

Mr. Myers smoothed his hair with both of his hands. He stroked his mustache with his right hand as if deep in thought. “I guess you could take 3-days unpaid leave.”

“No. This is for industry certification and it will not be unpaid leave.”

“I’m not going to allow it.” Mr. Myers sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.

“Fine, then get someone else to do it. The dev…I mean Ms. Keen can do it.”

“No, she can’t, she’s taking a leave of absence starting on Friday and she won’t be back.”

The hugest grin I’ve ever grinned crept across my face. “I’m sorry, what? Like she’s not coming back, ever?”

I swear he had a look of sadness, maybe regret, maybe something I didn’t understand. “Yes.”

“So I guess, you’re stuck with me and since you want us to go through industry certification, you’ll need to approve my time off.”

Mr. Myers huffed. “Whatever, fine,” he snapped. “Please don’t tell anyone about Ms. Keen. She doesn’t want anyone to know.”

I snorted. I tried really hard not to laugh or even smile. “I’ll resubmit my time off.” I left his office, shut the door, and sprinted to Mr. B.’s room.

“AH!!!!” I screamed as I jumped up and down in front of Mr. B.’s desk. “She’s leaving! The devil is leaving Friday and never coming back!”

“Her mom has cancer and is going into hospice and she decided to take care of her,” Mr. B. said solemnly.

I stopped jumping. “Oh no! I wonder if she needs anything, maybe we can start a meal train?”