Page 6 of Before We Fell

What else could I use?

“Hello,Mr. Wilkes, this is Lauren Frazier, Riley’s teacher. I’ve left several messages already, but it’s important you call me back. Something happened with Riley, today, and well…” My voice trailed off. The glitter pen drawing idea had ended in a disaster. Riley’s paper shook as I held it in my hand and I desperately tried to wipe off the tear I’d allowed to fall on to it.

So stupid, Lauren.A simple idea of drawing a picture of what kids had done this summer and Riley had lost all of her love of glitter pens. I was certain of it. And if she hadn’t, I was leaning in the direction of never wanting to see another one again.

“Please, call me, Mr. Wilkes. It’s important. I’m concerned, and today didn’t go well. We really need to meet and discuss how I can best teach Riley this year. Thank you.” I rattled off my number and extension along with my email in case he had some severe phobia of returning a phone call before hanging up.

God.

I was correct. For her age, Riley was an excellent drawer, but it was the subject I stared at that made me ache down to my bones.

Gray sky filled with black clouds. Bright green grass. Two large trees draped over the center of the page. And beneath those droopy, sad looking trees were the only other things on the page. Two, black curved objects. Over the top of them were the words “Mom” and “Dad” in harshly scribbled, shaking letters.

She’d drawn tombstones. The funeral. It hadn’t even been this summer but last February, and it was clearly still the only thing on her mind.

I had walked around the room during the unplanned art time, desperate for any chance to connect with Riley while stopping and talking to each and every kid, but when I’d gotten to her drawing, I hadn’t been able to look away.

She’d chosen a green glitter pen. It sparkled and shone despite the gray and ominous clouds, and I knew from the pictures in the newspaper so many months ago, the sun had been shining the day they buried her parents.

But damn… the poor thing.

My phone on my desk rang, startling me and I dropped the paper.

“Hello, this is —”

“What’s wrong with Riley?” a deep voice snapped through the phone line.

“Mr. Wilkes?” I asked, fumbling. Of course it was him. He’d called me back! Finally!

“Noah. What’s wrong with Riley?”

Goodness. His voice was tight and quick like I’d done something to anger him and it took me a second to recover as I said, “Well, nothing—”

“You said something happened.”

Goodness. No wonder why he was a lawyer. He wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise. “Noah,” I tried again and cleared my throat. “Noah, she’s not hurt. But I’m concerned about some of her behavior. I’d really it like it if we could schedule some time for you to come in so we can speak.”

He was silent for a few minutes and then cursed, startling me further. “I can’t today. But I can tomorrow.”

“Okay. How about after school?”

“Fine. I’ll see you at three.”

“Um, school isn’t over until three-thirty.”

A heavy sigh fell through the line followed by another curse. “Fine then. I’ll be there at three-thirty. Mrs…?”

His voice trailed off. It took me a second to realize he’d already forgotten my name. “Miss Frazier. Lauren. I’ll—”

He cut me off again. “Tomorrow,” he clipped and hung up.

I stared at the phone’s receiver for way too long after it’d gone silent. Suddenly having an appointment with Noah Wilkes didn’t seem like such a great idea if he was going to cut me off at every opportunity and spend it cursing.

“Way to go, Lauren,” I muttered to myself, hanging up the phone. “You’ve somehow screwed up twice today.”

Three

Noah

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