It had been a shitty day. Erin Meyer stepped into the door of her cheap New York apartment and let it shut behind her so she could lean back against it. She closed her eyes and tried to shed the concerns of her day. Dealing with the worst of the worst of inner-city New York teenagers would have been a rough assignment for a veteran teacher. It was even worse for a fresh-out-of-college twenty-four-year-old.
Still, she was nearly four months into the school year and she usually felt like she was making strides, or at least baby steps, in educating those whom the system deemed unteachable.
Days like today got to her, though. Watching one of your students get led away in handcuffs was never easy. She'd quietly asked what he'd done, where none of the students could hear. Drive-by, they'd old her. Two brave eyewitnesses had fingered Hakim "Baby H" Jackson as the shooter. Worse yet, two people had died in the shooting. The D.A. had already said it: capital murder. That meant the death penalty. Erin sighed. Good-bye, Baby H.
Erin pulled herself away from the door and stripped off her coat, scarf, and gloves. She walked into her bedroom and took off her class ring, earrings, and necklace. Her sweater went over her head next, then the tank-top she'd worn under it. She took off her skirt and slipped down her hose. She stepped into the cramped bathroom and started the tap. She unhooked her bra and slid off her panties while the water heated. Her fingers worked busily at the bun on the back of her head. It came apart and she took the time to study herself in the mirror.
She was just over five feet tall and ... hefty, she thought. Yeah, that was a good word for it. Rubenesque, that was another one. Fat, that's the one the kids in school had used to devastating effect to her feelings. So, she'd been the fat chick who wore shapeless, comfy clothes and glasses and never took her eyes off the floor. She had never been given the opportunity to blossom there. She looked back on those years with a mixture of anger and regret. Her red hair she'd kept straight and tied back in those days. Her devastating green eyes had been denied by gold-rimmed glasses. Now, she took her contacts out and stepped into the bathroom. She tested the water with her hand and plugged the drain.
She sat down and emptied her bladder. She grinned at the humor that brought to her mind. Filling the tub always made her need to go. When it was full, she turned off the tap and settled herself into the hot water. She luxuriated as the hot water and steam loosened the muscles of her back and neck. She closed her eyes and thought about her last vacation, the beach of Cozumel, the fun in the hotel room. Chris would be home soon.