Finally, I had a class of my own.
Pinecrest was a K to 8 (kindergarten to grade 8) school. I met all 24 staff members at the end of August - or, rather, they met me, because I was the new guy. The principal and vice-principal were male, as were two of the teachers and the custodian. Everybody else, including the librarian and the social workers, was female.
I was equal parts keen (to start my new career) and bewildered. Luckily, these elementary school teachers treated each other like one big semi-dysfunctional family. But you don't want to hear about the job. It's enough to say that I fully expected to be working my ass off, and going without sleep. I underestimated the workload.
They gave me two Grade 7 classes. I had to teach them English, History, Geography, and Phys Ed. My partner would handle Math, Science & Tech, Art and music. There was an itinerant French teacher who came in for part of the day.
I might not have survived without my partner. Antonia was tireless, patient, and well-organized. She went out of her way to help me out. I expressed my undying gratitude every second day.
- "You'd do the same for me, if the roles were reversed." she said. "And you'll do it for somebody else, some day."
- "Did someone do this for you, when you were a rookie?" I asked.
- "No." she said. "Maybe that's why I don't want to see you go through what I did."
Antonia was 29, blonde, and had a killer smile. She also had a murderous stare - it's not always easy to keep control of a roomful of 12 year-olds, but Antonia could freeze them with a look. The kids respected and genuinely liked her.
Our principal reminded me of Colonel Klink, from Hogan's Heroes, and the vice-principal was a martinet who thought that shouting was effective. I ignored them as much as I could. But I certainly developed a healthy crush on Antonia.
She set me straight before I said or did anything.
- "I'm in a committed relationship." she told me. "Martin and I will get married, at some point."
- "Does Martin know that?" I asked.
- "Smartass." she said.
- "Thank you for telling me." I said. "Had you not, I would definitely have asked you out on my first free evening - sometime in July."
I felt tremendously lucky to have drawn Antonia as a partner - especially after the two other male teacher introduced themselves. Ed, one of the Grade 8 teachers, was about 45, and his 'glory days' were far behind him. He was married, but still had a wandering eye. Frankly, he was a bit creepy - and I'm not female.
- "Us guys have to stick together - right? We're outnumbered." Yeesh.
Nelson taught Grade 6. He was painfully shy, but he was also the only person in the building who knew anything about computers. I had trained on Macs in Teachers College, but our School Board used Microsoft/Windows stuff, so I was completely lost.
I was the girls' basketball coach. I also coached boys' soccer, hockey, volleyball, softball, and track & field. Everybody pitched in for that. Basically, I got home every night between 6 and 7, ate take-out food far too often, and then got to work, planning for the next day. Weekends were for marking, and for long-range planning.
My first break was at Thanksgiving, when I went home. I spent more time with Steve and his family than I did with my own. His parents and his sister, Sarah (not the ex-girlfriend) treated me like visiting royalty. I was exhausted when I got back to work on Tuesday, but it was worth it. You have to recharge the moral and mental batteries.
My letter-writing to Nina slipped a bit. I had lots to tell her - just less time for the telling. I also felt a bit guilty, because - busy as I was - my eyes were roving.
There were quite a few single women at Pinecrest.
I'm a male. Of course I looked. Why not? They were also busily checking
me
out.
- 'You've created quite a stir." Antonia told me. "I get asked about you every day."
She didn't have to tell me that. I could feel their eyes on me, several times a day. That was fair, because I had my eye on them, too.
Madame Chantal, as the kids called her, was the French teacher. I saw her long, dark hair first. She was tall - taller than me. But her most striking feature was her eyes. Sloe-eyed, was the old expression. They were slightly slanted, and dark blue - almost purple.
Chantal was thrilled to be able to speak to me in French. She was from Quebec, and quite homesick. I found her very alluring, but regretfully crossed her off my list. 'Madame' means Mrs - and I wasn't about to get involved with a married woman.
It was too bad, really. Chantal was giving off unambiguous signals. She was definitely interested in me, from what I could see: she nodded and smiled whenever I spoke to her, and did quite a lot of primping and preening. Too bad, I thought.
Eva taught grade 5. She was tall, and slender, with long, dark hair, and definitely worth a second look. Eva was also a hopeless romantic.
- "And seeing someone." said Antonia, who had appointed herself my guardian, or fairy godmother.
- "Really?" I had not forgotten Moe's lessons. Eva looked like a girl who was more than ready to dally with a Prince Charming. Or even a halfway decent frog.
Louise was Eva's grade 5 partner. She was tiny - barely 5'1" - and sweet. Long brown hair, and a slim, trim little body certainly piqued my interest. But Nelson - the computer guy - nearly swooned as she walked by. He seemed to be hyper-ventilating.
- "You like her?" I asked him.
- "She's ... uhhh ... yeah." I didn't know if he was praying, or coming in his pants. Either way, I didn't want to mess up Nelson's crush. Louise looked ripe - but I couldn't do it.
That left Suzanne, the grade 3 teacher. She was short, too, but more full-bodied. Dark hair, light eyes ... and she hit virtually every one of the signals Moe had taught me about. She was always checking me out at staff meetings. She did the hair flip, the lip lick, the eye contact, and the coy smile.
- "She's trouble." Antonia warned me.
- "What? Why?"
- "She's on the prowl. That girl is a predator. You better wear a condom, if you go anywhere near her." she said.
- "Antonia!" I pretended to be offended.
- "Be careful, Chris." she said.
Suzanne had a lovely smile, which she frequently showed me. She was considerate, and often asked if she could help me out.
- "I know Antonia is amazing." she said. "But if you ever need any advice - if you have any questions - I'd be more than happy to help."
I think I first caught my breath in late November. On a blustery Sunday afternoon, I found that I was almost a full week ahead of my class. So I wrote letters. The first was a short one to Celine - I had missed our 'anniversary' - explaining what I was doing. The second was to Nina, because it flowed easily. Writing to her was always just like talking: I told her about my school, the students in my class ... everything.
The last letter was to Moe. It was harder to write, because I didn't know how to say what I felt. But after thinking about her, and our time together, I decided to be honest - just as she would have done.
So I told her that I loved her, and probably always would. I understood - and accepted - the reasons we couldn't be together. I would always be grateful, for the lessons she had taught me, and for the memories. A bit schmaltzy, perhaps - but I mailed it as is.
***
The following weekend, I decided to treat myself to a night out. I was going to meet Antonia and her boyfriend, Martin, at a popular nightspot. Actually, it was the
only
popular nightspot in town.
Martin and I didn't exactly hit it off, at first. He was a bit jealous, I think. He knew that Antonia and I worked closely together. She tried to put him at ease by explaining that I was the subject of an office pool; bets were being placed about which of the single girls I would finally end up with.
- "Is that true?" I asked. "There's a pool?"
