It Could Happen to You

Bev Gray, principal of Westwood School, tapped her silver pen on the edge of her clip board. 

Sherry focused on breathing. In through the nose, one, two three, four.  Hold for seven, out through her mouth, slowly, slowly and repeat. 

Mrs. Khullar, superintendent, completed her walk around their little circle, shaking hands and smiling.  Then she smoothed her brown wool skirt behind her and sat on the leather backed guest chair.

“The children are our top priority,” Bev nodded as she folded her hands. Her silver pen slid down her clip board and onto the floor.” “Safety is paramount.” she continued as she bent to look for the pen.

Kay, the union steward, picked the pen up from under Bev’s chair and held it out to her.  Bev took it with a nod.

“How is the boy?” Mrs Khullar turned to look at Bev. “Jonah?”

“Slowly breathe out,” Sherry told herself. “One, two, three...”

“He’ll be off for school for a while.” Bev clipped her pen onto the clip board. She shook her head slowly and sighed.

“His parents aren’t coming to this meeting?” Yvonne asked from her seat on the couch beside Sherry

“No,” Bev’s chair squeaked as she shifted. “They could not make it at this time.”

“Have you spoken to the parents?” Yvonne asked Mrs. Khullar.

“No, they spoke to Bev.” Mrs Khullar smiled at Yvonne.  “Which is the procedure we encourage.”

“Sherry?” Yvonne turned her head. “You spoke to the parents yesterday?”

Sherry breathed out through her mouth slowly. “I called to see how Jonah was. I spoke to his dad.  He said accidents happen.” Sherry told her shoulders to be still.  Bev had yelled at her for shrugging yesterday.

“The point is,” Bev unclipped her pen and pointed it at Yvonne. “Due diligence.”

“Is the ankle broken?” Yvonne asked Sherry.

Sherry breathed in through her nose, held the breath and breathed out through her mouth. “No,” she replied. “Sprained.”

“The point is,” Bev pointed her pen at Sherry. “He got hurt under your supervision and I had to take him to the hospital.”

“Is this the first time a student has been hurt at this school?” Yvonne asked.

Bev coloured slightly. “You are trying to railroad this meeting.” Bev pointed the pen at Yvonne. “I agreed that ETT could attend as a courtesy.  Do not abuse my hospitality.”

“Sherry is entitled to union representation,” Yvonne smiled at Bev. “As you know.”

Bev coloured a deeper shade of pink.

“The question is,” Mrs Khullar looked at each of them in turn. “Was the accident preventable?”

“I believe Ms. Smythe was negligent in her supervisory responsibilities.” Bev smiled at Mrs. Khullar.  “I believe the accident was preventable and that is why I feel a disciplinary letter should be placed in her records.” She re-clipped the silver pen to her clipboard.

Sherry breathed in through her nose, held the breath for a count of four and then slowly breathed out through her mouth.

Mrs. Khullar leaned forward in her chair and smiled at Sherry. “What did happen?”

Sherry turned to look at Yvonne. Yvonne, ETT Executive Officer, smiled and nodded.

 “For DPA we always start with a walk, power walk, then jog around the perimeter of the gym.” Sherry tugged at the sleeve of her sweater.  “It’s a consistent routine so they always know what to do upon entering the gym.” Sherry turned to look at Kay.  Kay smiled at her. Sherry continued. “One of the gym monitors  gets the key from the office for the supply closet,” Sherry ran her right hand through her hair. “The other gym monitor posts the chart on the door by the stage.” 

Kay nodded her head, “We can’t leave the charts in the gym,” she explained. “Because between after school sports and the daycare the charts get wrecked.” 

So,” Sherry sighed. “A monitor carries it to and from the class and posts it on the door with sticky tack. They stay up better on the door than on the brick walls.”

“Even though a fire marshall had told us not to hang paper on doors.” Kay added.

Sherry continued. “But the stage door isn’t an exit and the sticky tac doesn’t work as well on the painted brick.”

“Chart?” Mrs. Khullar asked.

“Success Criteria,” Kay said.

“My staff,” Bev leaned over and touched Mrs. Khullar’s wrist. “Consistently uses Success Criteria.”

Mrs. Khullar smiled. “Continue,” she told Sherry.

Sherry breathed in through her nose, held the breath for a count of two and then breathed out through her mouth. “I helped Avery post the chart and then he joined the class.  I turned to Nazia, whose laces had come untied and the next thing I know Jonah is on the ground, holding his ankle and the chart is under him.”

“An accident,” Kay held out both hands.  “Could have happened to anyone.”

“He slipped on the success criteria?” Mrs. Khullar asked.

Bev leaned over and touched Mrs. Khullar’s wrist. “My staff uses them consistently.” Bev smiled. “They meet in teams to deconstruct the curriculum expectations and then make kid-friendly charts.”

“Well,” Sherry shrugged. “The language on  the chart was kid friendly.”

“Will there be a ban on charts in the gym now?” Kay looked around the circle.                                                           “Success Criteria must be posted!” Bev tapped her pen on the arm of the couch beside Kay’s elbow.” How else will the children know if they are succeeding in gym?”

Yvonne cleared her throat. “I fail to see any evidence of negligence on Sherry’s part.  It was an accident.” 

Mrs. Khullar frowned.  She turned to Bev. “Please describe the negligence to Yvonne.”

Bev sat up straight in her chair. “When Sherry unpacked the chart she failed to cluster the sticky tac in an effective manner.”

Kay sighed.  “Are there any exemplars available on sticky tac placement?”

“Don’t be flip, Kay.” Bev scowled at her.

“Speaking of flip,” Yvonne interjected “Why not place a flip chart in the gym for the charts.”

Kay and Sherry turned to look at Bev.

“That’s irrelevant,” Bev tapped her pen on her clipboard. “Sherry was negligent. Jonah got hurt.  A letter of discipline will go into her file.”

“Sherry?” Yvonne asked.  “Were you given any verbal instructions or feedback before this incident?”

“Lets not play the pass the blame game.” Bev tapped her pen on her clipboard. “Checking the sticky tac should be standard operating procedure.”

Sherry shook her head. “We were only told to always post the Success Criteria.”

““Success Criteria are essential for the effective provision of descriptive feedback that is so crucial before any form of evaluation.” Bev said.

Yvonne turned to Mrs. Khullar. Mrs. Khullar sighed.  “Let’s wait with any letter for now,” she rose from her chair.  “Let’s see if we can find a safer place to post the Success Criteria.” She nodded and reached for her coat. “Thank you all for your time. It was a successful meeting.” Mrs. Khullar smiled and walked out of the office.

“Was it successful?” Kay looked around the room. “How are we supposed to know?”

Progressing Well?

Sherry stretched her legs under the table, sipped her Shiraz and listened to Ian's deep, warm voice over the blur of sounds in the crowded restaurant. 

"He ate the bottom of the cone first so ice cream leaked all over him,” Ian said. “Then he scooped the ice cream off the top." Ian pretended to scoop ice cream from his wine glass. "By the time he was done. We had to give him a bath and a complete change of clothes. Then I understood why my sister had packed so much stuff for just one afternoon." 

Sherry smiled, "I had a similar experience with Jaime and spaghetti."

"Do you tease her about it now?" Ian raised his wine glass. ""Cause I can see teasing him about this when he's bigger." 

"Not so much. We tease her about the fact that she was convinced she was Snow White when she was three years old."

Ian chuckled. "Yup! That's even better." He shook his head and drank some wine. "What do you feel like doing tomorrow?"

"I thought you had to work," Sherry drew her legs under her chair. 

Ian shrugged his shoulders, "Rescheduled."

"That’s great,” Sherry forced a smile. “But I have to work tomorrow. Report cards are due in two weeks."

"Two weeks," Ian reached across the glass table and touched Sherry's hand. His touch was warm. "Then why can't we do something tomorrow?"

Sherry shook her head. "We went through this last year," She sighed. "I can't work on them during the school day, I'm too tired by the time I'm done teaching to be productive in the evenings. I need to use the weekends."

Ian withdrew his hand and poured wine into both their glasses. "Didn't you just finish those other things?" he asked. 

"IEPs?" Sherry ran a hand through her hair and groaned. "Yes, but now I have to do reports. I'm not exactly thrilled about this either." 

Ian leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Then blow them off for one day.” He smiled at her. “Or one afternoon."

Sherry shook her head.  "I don't know."

Ian leaned back in his chair. "The forecast is good. I thought we could play golf or drive out to Elora." He scowled. "I'd invite Dave, but he probably has plans with Julie because they do things together." 

"You told me you were working,” Sherry leaned forward. “So I made other plans. Now you expect me to drop everything because your schedule has changed."

"If I hadn't said I was working, you wouldn't have worked on report cards this weekend?" 

"I have to get them done." Sherry leaned back in her chair.

Ian raised his hand to signal to their waiter.  "You have to plan, mark, prepare reading groups, write IEPS, write cards, write reports.  There is always something."

"I get good holidays," Sherry offered. 

"I thought you were quitting."

Sherry struggled to keep her voice even.  "I don't know. I'm not ready to decide.” She shook her head. “About anything." 

Ian stared at her. "What else is there to decide about."

Sherry grabbed her wine glass, raised it and drank. She wasn't ready to decide.  The group of women at the next table were laughing loudly.  Sherry resisted the urge to ask them to use their indoor voices. "You're right,” she finally said. “Let's go to Elora.”

Ian smiled

“I'll just sleep less,” Sherry told herself. “There will be plenty of time for sleep over the winter break.   

Cut the Forms and Let me Teach

“I just want to teach!” Sherry strode into Kay’s classroom. “I’d become an administrator if I wanted to fill out forms.”

Kay and Nadia looked up from the books on Kay’s round table.

“IEPs?” Kay asked.

Sherry nodded, “And ILPs. How am I supposed to do eight IEPs, two ILPs and keep up with planning, preparation and marking 30 grade five students’ work?” Sherry rubbed her forehead.

“You have eight IEPs?” Nadia exclaimed.

Sherry nodded.

“You need release time,” Kay said.

“Bev gave me one period.  I might get one accommodated IEP done. That leaves three other accommodated ones and four modified IEPs.  Those take forever!  It’s an eight page form. At least. Some I have to modify for Social Studies and Science.” 

“IEPs are worse than report cards.” Nadia nodded her head.

“You can master the report card system, but they keep changing expectations for IEPs.” Kay nodded. “Ask for more release time.”

“Even if she gives me one more period that still means I have to stay a few nights to do the others and it’s my first year teaching grade five I can’t wing anything yet. I’m still learning the curriculum.” Sherry sat done on a blue plastic chair. “I get here at eight.  I leave at six, I work a few hours each weekend.  I’ve accepted that my life goes on pause during report cards, ‘cause we get great holidays. But I don’t know if this is worth it.”

“Your pay is only on step three. It will go up,” Nadia said.

“Yeah, but right now I can barely afford my basement bachelor apartment and my  economy car payments.  I like nice things, not that I have much time to shop anyhow.”

“What else would you do?” Kay asked.

“Go back to school.  Study optometry. Or marketing. Ian works a lot of hours but he gets paid over 100 000.”

“Wouldn’t you miss the kids?” Nadia asked.

Sherry ran her hand through her hair. “Yes, of course I would. I love listening to their stories.  I love their enthusiasm.  But there’s so much garbage to deal with.”

  “I think we all feel like quitting sometimes.” Kay said.  “But there are plusses to teaching other than the holidays.”

“Not the benefit package,” Nadia shook her head. “We’re still at 2008 for dental.”

Kay laughed. “No, not the benefit package.  Although I’m looking forward to my gratuity and pension.” Kay set down her pen. “I mean the creativity of the job, and the fact that no two days are ever alike and you get to start fresh each September and the kids are cute and funny and even when they do something wrong you know that its because they’re kids and they still need to learn.”

“I know,” Sherry shook her head. “No. I’m not sure of anything right now.”

“Maybe we could make IEPs fun?” Nadia suggested.

“It’s a legal document,” Kay said.

“So you couldn’t write them in rhyme?” Nadia asked.  

Sherry giggled. “Johnny will receive individualized attention, in order to improve his reading comprehension.” 

“Exactly!” Nadia pounded the table. “Or we could work on them together as part of a drinking game? Finish a page and take a shot?” Nadia asked.

“Only if you don’t want to keep your job,” Kay said.

“Ahh!” Nadia waved her pen in the air. “But Sherry isn’t sure that she does.”

Sherry and Kay stared at Nadia.

“Just a suggestion,” Nadia muttered.  “You’d probably rather quit then be fired and appear in the blue pages anyhow.”

Sherry nodded. “I guess I’d better get to work ‘cause I don’t even want to think about spending the day with 30 ten year olds who have nothing to keep them busy.”

“Don’t rush to make a decision,” Kay said. “You have lots of time.”

Sherry stood up. “I just wish I had time to do those IEPs.” 

“We’re all captive on the carousel of time,” Nadia said. “Joni Mitchell. Paraphrased.”

Sherry rose. “Minister of Education, I beseech.” She walked to the door. “Cut the forms and let me teach.”  She stepped out and called from the hallway.  “Sherry Smythe. Original.”

“See,” Nadia said. “That’s the idea!”

(12th story) A New Beginning?

Sherry sat at the back of the room. Nazia remained at the front, newspaper article in hand.

“I will vote for anyone who lowers taxes,” Avery said.

“None of the three main parties are talking about getting rid of the HST.” Nazia shrugged her shoulders.

 “Are you sure about that?" Sherry asked.

“Okay,” Nazia rolled her eyes. “Some of the parties are talking about taking it off some things. But they’re not getting rid of it.”

“Does anyone know which things may be HST free if a certain party is elected?” Sherry asked her class. “Avery?”

 “Both the Conservatives and the NDP are promising to take it off electricity and heating, but promising is an important word, because we all know they don’t always keep them promises.” Avery said.

“Sometimes, they can’t keep promises because they see that their promises won’t work. The government needs the money from HST to pay for hospitals, school, roads all those things." Nazia shrugged her shoulders and returned to her seat. "I' m done."

“Anyone else want to comment?” Sherry asked.

 Several hands went up. Sherry was pleased. She had not expected this government unit and the focus on the provincial election to go so well. But most of her grade four/five class was very involved and quite well informed. They read the papers, saved political cartoons, a few of them had even drawn their own cartoons. They were looking forward to voting with the Student Vote program on October 4.

 "Sydney?"

         "I'm voting for the NDP. I want a nice looking premier."

 Sherry's eyes widened. Well, she thought, at least she knows what they look like.

***************

 "Ms. Smythe?"

Sherry looked up. "Hello, Mrs. Morris. Did Avery forget something"

 "No. I want to have a word with you, if you have a minute?"

 "Certainly. Please, come in." Sherry set her pen on the pile of unmarked math notebooks and rose from her chair.

 Mrs. Morris stepped into the classroom and looked around.

 Sherry pulled out a chair from a student's desk. "Please have a seat."

 "No, I'll just be a minute. Thank you." She glanced at her watch. "It's just that I'm not comfortable with the focus on current events. I think Avery and the others are too young to be thinking about government. I don't want him watching the news or reading newspapers yet. So please change your topic for Social Studies."

 "Government is a grade five unit, Mrs Morris."

 "I don't think it should be. Avery loved that Mediaeval unit last year. He built a catapult with his dad. Can't you do something like that?"

 "We will be studying ancient civilizations later this year. You know you can discuss the news and how you feel about it with Avery and..."

 "So you're not going to stop teaching them about political parties and taxes?" Mrs. Morris crossed her arms against her chest.

 "I'll show you the curriculum document from the Ministry of Education and you can see..." Sherry pointed to her desk.

 "I've seen enough, thank you! I thought if I came to you and asked politely, but I'll just go talk to Mrs. Grey."

 Sherry followed Mrs. Morris out the door.

"I'm too upset to talk to you right now," Mrs. Morris called.

 Sherry watched her walk down the hall. She felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around to see Mr. Gable, one of her parents from the previous year.

 "Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Mostly," Sherry replied. "How is Noah?"

 "Fine. He misses you."

 Sherry smiled. "I see him all the time."

 "I'm just going to pick him up from daycare, but I thought I'd come in this way and say hi to you."

 "That's sweet. How have you been?"

 Mr. Gable smiled, slow and wide. "Well, I don't see you everyday..."

 Sherry felt a flush travel up her neck. She reached down to pick up a blue crayon shaped eraser from the floor. "Did you and Noah spend a lot of time at the cottage this summer?"

 Mr. Gable nodded. "Yes, although I still had to work. You?"

"Quite a bit. I didn't take a course this summer."

 "Where is your parents' cottage?" Mr. Gable asked.

 "It's near..."

 "Sherry?" Bev Grey's voice sounded over the PA.

 "Yes?"

 "Please come to the office."

 Mr. Gable touched Sherry's elbow. "I'll see you," he said and started down the hall.

Sherry waved and turned to walk in the opposite direction toward the office. Certainly, she thought, Bev couldn't tell her to stop teaching the Government unit. It was in the grade five curriculum. In any case, this wasn't likely to end well, none of her meetings with her principal did. Sherry wondered if the VP was still in the school. Laura was more supportive and she had suggested the Student Vote program, which had been so helpful in planning this unit. Bev had even been supportive of that idea.

 Sherry took a deep breadth and walked into the office to find Mrs Morris perched on the edge of the sofa.

 "Come in, Ms. Smythe," Bev smiled at her. "I was just showing Mrs Morris the curriculum document and the Student Vote website. I've explained the non-partisan approach and how you well you bring issues to their level of understanding. Would you like to add anything?"

 "Only that Avery could bring his duo tang home every night so that you could discuss things with him and see what we have been doing. Of course he would have to remember to bring it back to school every day."

 "All right." Mrs. Morris nodded. "Lets do that." She sighed and rose. She shook Bev's hand and nodded at Sherry.

 Sherry watched her leave then turned to Bev. "Thank you for supporting me."

 "Of course I'd support you. That's my job."

 Sherry nodded slowly. She turned to leave.

 "Sherry?" Bev called.

 "Yes?"

 "You might consider a newsletter for the parents, describing what you are doing and citing the curriculum documents. A more proactive approach could head off these problems. Ask Mary Beth for a copy of her parent newsletter."

 "Okay," Sherry stepped out of Bev's office.

 "And Sherry?"

 "Yes?"

 "Throwball again or craft club this year?"

Sherry nodded again, "Throwball." She said and walked back to her classroom. Pretty much status quo, she thought.

(11th story) Teacher Dream

"No," the girl said. 

"I'm not asking you." Sherry placed her hands on her hips. "I'm telling you." 

"And I'm telling you I won't do it."

"You have to," Sherry insisted. 

"Why?" the girl asked. 

"Because I'm your teacher."

"So?"

Sherry stared at the girl and wondered what to do next. 

"I'm not doing it either," a boy called. 

"Me too." "Me neither!" A chorus of voices shouted. 

"Quiet!" Sherry yelled.

The sound of her own voice made her jump and wake up.

Sherry sat up in bed and looked around. "Just a dream," she sighed. 

She had heard about 'teacher dreams', but she had never had one before. Sherry pulled her covers up over her lap and considered getting put of bed. She looked at the clock. 3:34. She shivered. 

Tomorrow was the first day of her third year. She was on permanent contract now. A union due paying, pension plan contributing, college certified teacher for the next thirty years or so. 

"It's good," she told herself. "It's what I wanted."

 She pushed off her covers. Bathroom, warm milk and she'd go back to bed. She needed to be rested because tomorrow the rushing restarted. 

(10th Story) August

August first.

July had zipped by in a whirl of lunch dates, patios, shopping, and cottages. Sherry had promised herself that she would start on school work in August. It was August. 

She packed her laptop, curriculum documents, resource books and notepads along with her bathing suit, and sunscreen for her visit to her parents cottage.  She had tried to beg off, but her cousins would be there this weekend and her mother had said it would be rude if she didn't show.

"I'll have to work." Sherry said. "It's two new programs this year."

"They'll understand," her mother replied.

Sherry arrived just before dinner. Sherry greeted her cousins and the new girlfriend.  

"Where's Ian?" her cousin, Matthew, asked.

"He stayed in the city.  He has tickets for a game on Saturday."

"Everything okay with you two?" her cousin Marcia kissed her on both cheeks.   "Will we be getting a wedding invitation soon?"

"Maybe," Sherry smiled. "But not from me."

She shook hands with Rita, Matthew's new girlfriend.

They had dinner outside. Grilled, burgers, and portobello mushrooms with coleslaw and potato salad. The cousins reminisced. Sherry felt bad for Rita who was left out of the conversation. 

"This must be boring for you," Sherry said.

"Oh no," Rita shook her head. "I find it fascinating. Your family is so different from mine. I grew up in a very small town. We had very few choices for entertainment.  We had to make our own games. Sometime we'd get into trouble for them. Like the time my brother decided to have a scavenger hunt.  He hid us little ones around the house. He set my cousins to find us, but they got bored and I was in the blanket chest for four hours before my grandmother found me.  My brother got in big trouble for that one! Our town is so small...."

"How small is it?" Sherry asked. 

Rita raised her eyebrows and frowned.

"Sorry.  Please continue," Sherry said.

"We didn't even have our own high school. We had to be bused to the next town over.  And the teachers all thought we were stupid because we were hicks, you know?"

"How long have you known Matt?" Sherry interrupted.

"I met Matthew on line a year ago.  We've been together for eight months now. Did I hear  you say your boyfriend stayed in the city to go to a ball game?"

Sherry nodded. 

"You poor thing! You must be so upset. I don't know what I'd do if Matthew did that to me."

"I'm not upset," Sherry said.

"Well, you're being very brave. I'm sure you two will work it out. My last boyfriend used to do things like that, but I set him straight. You just got to make the rules clear.."

"I think I should help my mother clean up. Nice talking to you." Sherry got up and walked away.

The next morning, Sherry woke up early and after a quick shower, she poured herself a coffee, and went out to the deck with her books and her notepad and her computer. 

She decided to start by reviewing some reading resources. She had co-created her long range plans with the grade four and the grade five teacher, but she to figure out how to approach those expectations.

She had been reading for fifteen minutes, when she felt someone looking over her shoulder. Sherry turned around."Oh good morning Rita. Did you sleep well?"

“Yes, thanks I always  sleep well with Matthew. It nice having someone to cuddle and a heart beat to listen to."

Sherry smiled, nodded and turned back to her books.

"What are you reading?"

"Books on teaching reading. I'm teaching two new grades this year. I have to get ready." Sherry smiled and turned back to her books.

"I thought I'd like to be a teacher."

Sherry suppressed a sigh. "What do you do now?"

"I'm in the food industry.  But what do you need to be a teacher?"

"A BA and a B. Ed."

"Really?" 

Sherry nodded.

"Even to teach grade one or kindergarten?"

Sherry nodded.

"But grade one would be easy, right? I mean we already know how to read, and count. How hard can it be? Anyone could teach that."

"Grade one is actually one of the most difficult grades. Teaching reading is not easy." Sherry turned back to her books.

"Really? Im surprised. I wouldn't have thought so."

Sherry nodded, smiled and turned back to her books.

" I had a few good teachers," Rita said. "There are some good ones, you know?"

Sherry looked up, smiled, nodded and turned back to her books.

" I guess you want to get some work done?"

Sherry looked up, smiled, nodded and turned back to her books.

"I like to read biographies myself. I don't see any reason to waste time on fiction when there are so  many good real life stories out there to read. What do you read?"

"Fiction. I don't see any reason to waste time with reality when there's so much good fiction out there."

Rita was quiet for a minute. "I'll write some titles down for you anyhow. My brother was in a really bad place emotionally and I loaned him one of my books and he pulled himself together. And my best friend..."

Sherry suppressed a sigh and glanced longingly at her books as Rita told her all the people she had helped and how grateful people were and how surprised they were that she knew so much.

Sherry smiled, nodded and hoped Matt would get up soon and rescue her from his girlfriend so that she could get back to work.  It was August.

(9th story) Summer

“So, Julie says you’re a teacher.”

“Yes,” Sherry nodded. “You’re her cousin Miles, right?”

“That’s me,” the man gave her a lopsided grin.  “So you have the whole summer off.  Must be nice.”

“It is, especially after spending the last month working on report cards and IEPs on evenings and weekends.”

“Sounds rough,” he laughed.  “What? You work 9:00 to 3:30?”

“No,” Sherry began. Julie appeared at her side.

“Come with me,” Julie grabbed Sherry’s elbow. Sherry followed Julie through the clumps of Julie’s friends and relatives.

“Is something wrong?” She asked.

My sisters,” Julie groaned.  “I need a break, and if Miles was true to form so did you. Lets step outside for a minute.”

Sherry followed Julie through the sliding glass doors onto the back deck. 

“If people think teaching is so easy, why don’t they do it?” Sherry plopped down on a plastic lawn chair.

Julie shrugged.  “It’s my engagement party, so why do my sisters pick tonight to argue with my mom.”

“Because it’s your engagement party.” Sherry leaned her head back and stared up at the sky. “You know they like to be the centre of attention.”

“And you know people always envy what others have.”

“You were right, we both needed a break.”

“Do you think Ian will propose?” Julie leaned forward.

“No, I don’t,” Sherry sat up and looked at her friend.  “Part of me wishes he would.  It would be nice to be asked, but most of me hopes he doesn’t ‘cause I think I’d be miserable married to him.”

“You’re not going to break off with him are you?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe.” Sherry shrugged.

“I don’t suppose it would be fair to ask you to wait until after my wedding? Since you’re the being maid of honour and he is Dave’s best man?”

“You’re not getting married until next spring!”

“So you are thinking about breaking it off?”

“Sometimes,” Sherry leaned forward. “Sometimes he’s fun and sweet, sometimes he is such an utter jerk that I don’t know why I see him at all.”

“No one is perfect. It has been nice, you know like the four of us, but... is there someone else? That teacher at your school?”

“Rick? No, he has a girlfriend.”

“But would you be interested?”

Sherry giggled.  “In the mean time, I am still seeing Ian, and I should get you back into your engagement party.”  Sherry got up and offered julie her hand. Julie took it, pulled herself up and with linked arms they reentered the party.

Dave and Ian greeted them at the kitchen door.  “There you are!” Dave grabbed Julie’s hand and pulled her away from Sherry.  “Your father is going to make a toast.”

Ian pulled Sherry hand through his arm and gave her hand a squeeze, “You look lovely,” he whispered as they followed Julie and Dave into the living room.

Julie’s mother, Mrs. Fine, handed them each a glass of champagne.

Mr. Fine stood with his glass raised, “When children find true love, parents find true joy. Here's to your joy and ours from this day forward. Cheers.”

Sherry raised her glass, joined in the chorus of cheers and sipped the champagne. 

Julie’s aunt Marie appeared at her side. “So, you finished your second year, congratulations Sherry.

       "Thank you, Marie.” 

       “To two months off,” Marie raised her glass.

Sherry smiled and raised her glass.  Marie was a principal at a secondary school.

“Yeah,” Ian raised his glass “To two months free of stories about kids and complaints about admin.”

Sherry pulled her arm free of Ian’s grasp.

“What?” Ian asked.

Sherry shook her head and followed Marie to the other side of the room.

Miles reappeared with a young woman that Sherry didn’t recognize.

“Sherry this is my cousin Nadia.  Nadia this is Sherry, Julie’s friend. She’s a teacher.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sherry extended her hand.  

The young woman took it.  “Wow, so you’re off for the summer. That must be nice.”

“So I’ve heard,”  Sherry agreed. “It is nice.”

“What grade do you teach?”

“I’ve been teaching grade two, but next year I’ll have a grade four and five split.”

“I had a terrible grade five teacher. She told my mom I should learn a trade and that I wasn’t university material.  I’m in my second year at Lakehead. Sometimes I think I should find her and tell her, but I think she died.”

Sherry downed the last of her champagne. ”What are you studying?”

“Business admin. Teaching sounds good though. All those holidays and the short days.”

“You could get your B.ed.”

“I don’t like kids.” Nadia shuddered. “All that nose picking and germs!  But if I did like kids, it would be great.  It must be nice. You’re lucky.”

“If you think it would be great, you could always teach high school.”

“Teenagers are so rude these days, but I’d love to have your hours and holidays,” Nadia insisted.

“Well, the holidays go with the kids and teenagers, you can’t teach without students. Its been nice talking to you.  Enjoy your career choice with its shorter holidays, but clean office spaces, up to date computers, and quiet, child and teenager free days,”

Sherry walked away to get another glass of champagne.