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Late for School

Being late isn't always a good thing.

By Charlene DawkinsPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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Late for School
Photo by Elijah Ekdahl on Unsplash

Late for School

by

Charlene Dawkins

Ajani woke up zealous this morning, looking forward to school. However, today was a special day. Today, the grade fives were going on a field trip. They were going to Atlantis. He had never visited Atlantis. He heard many stories about Atlantis massive fish aquarium, with sharks, Nassau Grouper, whales, stingrays, and many other sea creatures. There were slides and many people from different parts of the world visit Atlantis.

Ajani determined about being early today at school. He walked into his mother’s room, hoping she is already up. “Mom, get up, I don’t want to be late,” hounded Ajani. “What’s the matter?” his mother queried. “Remember, today is Wednesday, the field trip,” asserted Ajani. Ajani knew his mother always cause him to be late for school, and she takes a long time to get a dress, especially when it comes time to put on her make-up. It is like she is going to a beauty pageant.

He dashed to the bathroom to take a shower. Ajani put on his jeans and T-shirt with the school name written on it; the “sun burners,” says the logo. He leaped into his mother’s room, feeling anxious. He was surprised his mother was ready, but he notices she didn’t have on her make-up. “Mom. Please leave the make-up alone,” he begged. “Ok,” she said. They walked briskly toward the car.

Following this, we leaped into the car while putting on our seatbelts. Entering the entrance of the highway; Traffic was as usual. Cars moved like snails. A lady in the back of us yelled, “Move it.” Mom sat quietly in her seat, making no response with all the cars harking their horns. He thought to myself, “If only this car had wings,” we could fly over the traffic and be at school.

He paused for a moment, trying to stay calm. The light changed to green. “We are twenty cars behind,” he whispered to himself. “We never get there on time,” he said. He hopes to beat the light before it mutated back to red. Mom stepped onto the accelerator, trying to beat the red light. My heart continued to pound, thinking about the field trip. “Am I going to get there on time, mom,” asked Ajani. “Don’t you worry about a thing young man, we will get there,” replied mom. Mom sat calmly with a distance look on her face waiting for the light to change.

While setting in the traffic, mom reached into her brown leather bag to retrieve her cell phone and read her what’s up message, and she started to smile with the sun rays beaming upon her face, which kept her mind off the traffic. She began to text back with a bashful smirk on her narrow features. Ajani coiled in the front seat beside his mom, watching her as she text. Suddenly, the cars were pumping like mad. We swung around to see what was happening. The light had changed to green. It was too late now, and the light was back to red. Ajani, his heart dropped for a moment. Ajani has gotten used to this by now. It was an everyday experience for him.

The light was back on green, Ajani smiled to himself, and finally, he could get to his destination.

Then, he remembered, he and his mom always stop at McDonald’s for breakfast, she pulled in McDonald’s drive - through. The young lady echo over the speaker, “Welcome to McDonald’s may I help you?” “Yes, can I have two eggs muffins both with cheese, one with ham and one with sausage, and two orange juice?” replied mom.

The drive to school seems to be longer today.

As Ajani and his mother pulled up to the school, the bus was driving off.

humanity
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About the Creator

Charlene Dawkins

Charlene Dawkins holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies in Nashville, TN. She teaches at a primary school in the Bahamas, Charlene writes short stories, non-fiction, and poems. Some of her work has been published.

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