Page 12 of Happy Harbor
“Miss Campbell, this is Cheryl over at your daughter’s school. We’re going to need you to come pick her up.”
“Why?”
“She’s gotten into some trouble, and the principal has suspended her and a few other kids. Can you come now?” The woman seemed quite frantic, like Kendra had smallpox and the whole place needed to be quarantined.
“I’m across town, so it’ll take me a good half hour...”
“Great. We’ll see you soon.” She abruptly hung up, and Josie looked down at her sandwich. She couldn’t even take a moment to eat a sandwich without her daughter wreaking havoc in her life.
* * *
Josie sat in the principal’s office, tapping her foot and waiting to find out what her daughter had done. She didn’t even have to ask if Kendra was actually guilty of whatever it was, but she sure hoped it was something as simple as pulling the fire alarm.
Finally, Principal Dowden walked into the office and sat down behind his desk. He was as big around as he was tall, balding on the top, pointy nose, and had a foul look on his face most of the time. He was what one would refer to as a blowhard. Definitely not someone she would invite to parties.
“Miss Campbell,” he said with enough authority that she wanted to put herself in the corner.
“Mr. Dowden. Where’s my daughter?”
“She’s in the security office. I trust you have come here to take her home?”
“Well, someone called and told me to do just that. What did she do?”
He put his hands on the desk in front of him, fingers interlaced like he was about to start a prayer service. “Miss Campbell, your daughter is a consistent problem at our school. We just can’t have it anymore. Today she cut off the ponytail of one of the teaching assistants.”
“What? Why would she do that?”
He stared at her for a moment. “Is there ever a logical reason to cut off someone’s ponytail, Miss Campbell?” She was getting really tired of the way he was using her proper name.
“Of course not. And I understand she needs to be suspended for a few days...”
“No, not a few days. The rest of the school year. You’re lucky the teaching assistant isn’t pressing charges for assault.”
“Assault? Was she physically harmed?”
“No, but he obviously suffered emotional distress. He had very long hair. Halfway down his back.”
“He?”
“It’s not my style, but we don’t discriminate at this school. If a male teacher wants to have a long ponytail, so be it. That’s not what we’re here to discuss. Your daughter, along with another student, snuck up behind him while he was reading and cut off his ponytail. I don’t understand how you’re not disgusted by your daughter’s behavior.”
“I am,” she said, as calmly as possible. “I don’t know what’s going on with Kendra lately, and I understand she’s been a nuisance at the school. But kicking her out for the rest of the school year just seems excessive.”
“Well, that is our decision. She is not allowed back on campus, but she can complete her work virtually.”
“I can’t monitor her every day. I work.” She wasn’t exactly lying, but she felt her face flush at the memory of today’s rejections.
“That’s not our concern, Miss Campbell. She’s your daughter and your responsibility. And, frankly, it seems you’ve been falling down on your job of parenting her.”
Anger. It always came back. It was never far away. Just underneath her skin, it percolated, ready to pounce at any time. And right now, she felt like pouncing right across his desk.
Nobody understood how hard it was to parent Kendra alone. Kendra’s father had never been in the picture, and Josie had worked as hard as anyone could to make a life for them both. She hadn’t expected her daughter to become the world’s worst teenager.
“I’m a single mother, Mr. Dowden. I do the best I can.”
“Well—and pardon me for saying so—your best just isn’t good enough. I would suggest that you get some counseling for your daughter. At this rate, she’s going to end up in prison.”
Josie stood up, unwilling to listen to any more criticism about her parenting skills. How is a person supposed to know how to parent when their own mother never taught them? It was a cycle that had continued in her family. She didn’t have a father, and Kendra didn’t have a father. Josie’s dad had been a passing flame for her mother, but Kendra’s father was someone Josie had actually loved. The problem was, he’d loved several other girls at school Josie didn’t know about at the time. When she left to give birth, he took off on a van trip with some of his friends and never contacted her again. Regardless, Kendra had a mother, even if Josie wasn’t perfect.
