I had an unexpected sitting job on Friday night. Mrs McGonicle had rung in a bit of a panic. Her husband had been in an accident and she had to go and see him. Her brother would drive her to the hospital and stay while they operated, but come home and finish looking after the kids for the night while she stayed at the hospital. Could I please come and sit until Neil returned from the hospital?
What could I say but yes? It wasn't as though I had anything special on. I agreed and told her I'd be right over.
I drove around to the McGonicle's place and wandered up to the door and rang the bell. I heard Mrs McGonicle yell that it would be the sitter and for someone to let me in. Heavy footsteps approached the door and it swung open.
"Ivy?" said Mr Beachon. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Evening, Mr Beachon," I said, smiling gamely. "I'm here to babysit."
"Geez, it's official," he grumbled. "My sister has lost her ever-loving mind."
"Nice to see you, too. Now are you moving out of the way or do I turn around and go home?"
Mr Beachon, Neil, I suppose, moved to one side and let me in.
As you may have gathered from the greeting I already knew Mr Beachon. He was my maths teacher and I was not his favourite student. I suspected that if he listed his students from best to worst he would find a way to leave me right off the list.
It wasn't that I was such a dreadful student. It was more a difference in philosophy. He thought mathematics was the bee's knees and everyone should love it. I was of the opinion that communication was the best thing. I absolutely excelled in English and Literature classes. I've even had a couple of small articles published. Maths I can take or leave. If I take it, it's just so I can take it somewhere private and leave it there.
If that was the only difficulty we had I suppose we would have managed but maths bores me and when I get bored I get mischievous. Silly, according to Mr Beachon. This mischievousness had resulted in extra homework and a number of detentions. My own fault, I'll admit, but he made such an easy target at times.
If it hadn't been for him being my maths teacher I'd probably have really liked Mr Beachon. He was a big man, very solid, and not unhandsome. Dark hair and blue eyes and a very determined chin. Most definitely not nerd material. He also acted as assistant coach at times and was very fit.
Mrs McGonicle came out of wherever she'd been, looking all flustered. I calmed her down, took control of the kids and chased her out, probably irritating the hell out of Mr Beachon with my air of calm efficiency. He gave me a couple of looks as they left, just itching to warn me to behave myself, but unable to say anything in case it upset his sister. I smiled and waved and went chasing the children.
Everything went smoothly. The kids knew me and knew how far they could push me and we got along just fine. They didn't know that their father was in hospital and I didn't tell them. I'm sure their mother or uncle would enlighten them once they knew how bad things were.
Accordingly I played with the kids, fed them, made sure they bathed, put them to bed, yelled at them, put them to bed again with militant threats, kissed them goodnight, and watched them drift off to sleep.
After that it was TV and Facebook and text messages flying back and forth until Mr Beachon finally returned.
He came in, looking around suspiciously, probably wondering what I'd got up to while he was gone. I politely asked about Mr McGonicle and was informed that he had a badly broken leg and they had put pins in it. He'd be fine and the doctors said he wouldn't even limp when it was healed.
Seeing that Mr Beachon was still looking around for signs of damage I decided I'd better reassure him.
"The kids are in bed asleep," I told him. "I didn't say anything about their father's accident. I assumed that you or your sister would fill them in tomorrow. The kids behaved themselves admirably."
"I assumed that they would," he told me. "I was more worried about you behaving."
"Really," I snapped, irritated. "I was in a position of responsibility and I take my responsibilities seriously. There were no problems from the kids or me. No reasons to assign a detention."
Possibly that last comment was being a little snide, but I knew he'd bite on it.
"We're not at school," he pointed out. "No detentions. I would have just had you bend over that chair," indicating a big fat armchair, "and given you what for."
"Well, really," I said, feeling insulted now. "Don't you think I'm a little old to get a spanking?"
"Who said anything about a spanking?" he asked, and his voice was silky smooth, sending little tremors down my back.
"You did," I pointed out. "You said you'd bend me over that chair and oh!"