Must've Done Something Good by Cheryl Cory

Author:Cheryl Cory [Cory, Cheryl]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Cheryl Cory, humor, Sound of Music
Published: 2010-05-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

The next day, I was lying on the couch watching Judge Carmen and trying not to think about Evan, Elise or the immense pile of one hundred-thirty-one tests that were stacked, uncorrected on the easel in my bedroom. They had been sitting there untouched, like some depressing exhibit on how not to be a teacher, for nine days now. The last time I passed by them, I noticed a light film of dust had begun to form on the top sheet. This was the third time in a month I’d called in sick.

The second time was the day after I’d flipped by some movie about these punk kids who didn’t want to do anything in school but throw things around and create general mayhem. They started to call their teacher “Sir” (not sure why they’d do this—think I’d flipped stations there), but in this derisive tone. They made me unhappy. I shut off the TV and went to bed immediately. I really didn’t feel like going into school when I woke up the next day, so I didn’t.

When I was on the phone with Joanne, the office secretary, that morning I’d felt a strong mix of guilt and anger. I really had no good reason to stay home, but I couldn’t bear the thought of going back there and dealing with everything. Really, it was their own fault anyway, I reasoned. Couldn’t they foresee that handing five classes a day to a first-year teacher was insane? Maybe my small act of rebellion would help them learn their lesson for the future. By calling in sick, I was actually helping out not only St. Matt’s, but legions of future teachers, if you though enough about it.

I usually left in the morning before Kate and Meg, so they both knew what I’d done. Meg walked down to The Sunny Cup before class and brought back two English muffin sandwiches and coffees.

“Was it Sir again?” she asked.

“Not this time.”

We hung out on the couch wrapped in blankets, half-watching one of the early-morning TV shows.

“I’m jealous of the people who get to watch these shows every day,” I said. “They should appreciate it, but I’m sure they don’t. I guess I didn’t really even appreciate it this August.” I paused. “I think I probably slept through them anyway.”

“Actually, you should probably feel sorry for the people watching this stuff every day,” Meg said. “Most of them are sitting in front of the TV covered in spit-up—which is just a polite name for baby-puke, by the way—or else really old and paying incredibly close attention to all the crazy Depends ads they keep putting on.”

“You always know just what to say, Meg.”

“Are you going to spend today getting caught up on your correcting?”

“I can’t even think about that. I took today off to relax, not drive myself crazy.”

“But if you don’t get the correcting done, won’t you just be back at square one tomorrow? You’ll feel just as crappy. Then you’ll have to call in sick again.

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