Page 119 of Forever Fickle

“That means ‘GO’…” he yelled, and the children began scrambling, running the relay races as plastic bowling pins went flying, several running batons were dropped, one girl screamed in pain as she forgot about the scooter wheels despite being warned, and two boys threw a basketball at the other team that was waiting their turn.

It was mass chaos.

“I gotta go…” she uttered, looking at him and seeing his proud smile.

“Go, babe… I’m not going anywhere,” he urged, nudging her forward with his hand that rested on her hip.

Nodding, Karen ran over to the children.

“Red team line up… Emma, how’s your finger, sweetie? Blake and Matthew, go sit along the wall. I told you both not to throw the basketballs at the other team. Yellow team, you are up next… line up. Remember everyone, watch your fingers, play nice, and no throwing basketballs! I mean it!”

Karen looked over to Jace and waved nervously, realizing she sounded like a shrew. Alpo was staring at her in surprise and respect, probably seeing her in action for the first time ever.

The children were falling into line, behaving, and she blew the whistle, giving the red team their chance to run. Karen handed out little bags of candy to the winners and checked her watch.

“We are running out of time, y’all,” she warned. “We’ve got three minutes before the bell. Yellow team – GO! Green… line up right now. Hurry, hurry, hurry!” she clapped, blowing the whistle.

“Fingers! Watch your fingers, kids… you got it!” Karen yelled. “Good! Jimmy – on the wall! No throwing basketballs! Green team… go! C’mon guys! Let’s goooooo!”

Moments later, she was awarding more bags of the candy just before the bell rang, announcing the end of the day – and the week.

“Alright, let’s get our backpacks and line up for the buses. If you are a walker or a car rider, please come wait with me!” Karen called out, holding up her hand. “Bus riders, line up in the gym according to your color bus, okay?”

“Mrs. Sorensen, I can’t remember what color bus I am…”

Karen sighed.

It was like this every afternoon.

“Sweetie, you are on the green bus, remember?”

“Oh yeah,” the little girl perked up, smiling.

“Green like a caterpillar or an apple, remember?”

“Apples can be red and yellow, that is why I got confused.”

“Ahhh…” Karen smiled. “So they can be – you are absolutely correct, clever girl. How about green like a pea, green bean, or a cucumber?”

“I can remember that! Thank you, Mrs. Sorensen!” she called out, quickly hugging her before running off towards the gym doors. “Everyone else? Line up and let’s head to the front.”

Karen hesitated.

“Mr. Sorensen,” she began nervously, smiling and looking back at him. “Do you want to wait in my classroom or out here? I won’t be but maybe fifteen minutes or so.”

“I’ll wait in your classroom,” Jace offered. “Alpo is going to head home to his family.”

“You guys coming over for dinner?” Alpo asked immediately.

“Nope,” Jace grinned, making Karen blush wildly at his obvious smile and hearing Alpo’s rambunctious laugh.

“Well alrighty then…” Alpo replied, waving to Karen. “Y’all be good, and we’ll eventually see the both of you at some point. Thumper is grilling Sunday afternoon, so that would work too.”

“I’ve gotta go,” Karen said in reply, almost as an apology. “Jace, I’m in classroom 111. Go inside and make a left… okay?”

“Yep… go on, sweetheart.”

Karen brought the children up front, helped guide them to their parents’ vehicles, waving, smiling, and saying hello, all the while feeling extremely anxious and wanting to get back to Jace.

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