The Substitute

Today's prompt:

A substitute teacher falls in love with the absent teacher from their notes.

My reply:

Susan glanced down at the notes the regular teacher had left her. She had finally gotten the children to quiet and they were all reading their copies of Lord of the Flies. She was proud of the fact that she had gotten them to settle so quickly. It was no easy feat for a substitute to enter a classroom and gain respect. It took a special blend of humor and a look of “Do Not Fuck With Me” to bend a group of ten-year olds to your will. Susan imagined it was similar to someone’s first day in prison. Minus the fist fight in the cafeteria of course. After a final skim of the tops of her student’s heads she turned her attention to the notes of their regular teacher. One Mr. Jim House.

Hello fellow educator. Welcome to room 312! A few notes to make your day easier:

1. Do NOT use the bathroom in the teacher’s lounge after recess.  I don’t know what Bob Jenkins eats for breakfast every day but I don’t think it contains much fiber. I’m not a doctor but that man needs to see one.

2. If you are looking for a good conversation during lunch sit with Edna Cooper. She will be the steely haired woman sitting by the window. Ask her about Alaska. You won’t be disappointed.

3. Andy Taylor has been having a hard time (he is the red headed boy sitting in the back). He might act up at some point but please be gentle with him. He is not the type of kid who learns in this environment. If he gets upset ask him to draw you a picture of a horse fighting something. He really is very talented. I also think something is going on with him at home. He comes in with odd bruises some times. He really is a great kid. Remember. Horses!

4. There are some candy bars at the bottom of the desk, feel free to help yourself. I sometimes use them as rewards but mostly eat one whenever I feel like jumping out the window.

Take good care of my kids,

Jim House

Susan smiled to herself and re-read the note. She liked this Jim House already and found herself wondering what he looked like. Men with both a sense of humor and beautiful handwriting were hard to come by nowadays.

The morning passed as well as could be expected when dealing with modern ten-year olds. Andy Taylor did indeed have a mini-meltdown when faced with a math problem he couldn’t understand. Susan whispered her long unfilled dream of seeing a horse fighting a wizard. He immediately calmed and got to work. She was amazed at the result. The evil wizard gave her a chill.

At recess she made sure to stay clear of the bathroom after a large pale man exited. He was sweating slightly from his efforts. Mr. Jenkins I presume. She made a mental note to thank Jim House for the warning.

At lunch she met the acquaintance of one Edna Cooper. The woman was gruff and strong but happily recounted her adventures as a crab fisher in the seventies. When Susan asked what Jim was like the woman immediately softened. She smiled a knowing smile and produced her phone, bringing up a picture of a brown haired young man. He had kind eyes and needed a haircut. Susan felt her heart skip a beat as she stared at the picture. Edna Cooper gave her a look and took Susan’s hand.

“If I was thirty years younger I would be on him like a fat kid on an orange crush.”

Throughout the afternoon Susan found herself thinking about Jim House’s eyes and re-reading his note. This was crazy. She knew that. She hadn’t even met the guy and was already imaging what their children would look like. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before.  Despite her best efforts she couldn’t shake the feeling that Jim House was the man she would marry. By the end of the day she felt flushed and light headed.

After the final bell she made her way back to the teacher’s lounge with the intention of asking Edna Cooper for Jim’s number. The room was unusually quiet. Teachers stood in clusters whispering to each other. Susan approached Edna, who was quietly crying into a tissue.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

Edna turned to her. Her normally sturdy face melted by grief.

“Oh. Oh my. My dear girl. It’s Jim. He went to a student’s house today. A kid named Andy Taylor. He confronted the father or something. He’s been shot!”

The woman buried her sobbing head into Susan’s blouse. Susan felt the world do a slow spin. She was very heavy all of a sudden. She began to fall but Edna caught her.

“Susan? Susan!...” was all she heard before the world went gray.

………..

Jim House put one weary foot in front of the other and continued to climb the stairs. He didn’t know how long he had been climbing but it felt like a long long time. He couldn’t remember how he had gotten here or where he was going. He just felt an urgent need to go up. The stairs obliged.

It was dark. Light came sporadically from sputtering torches. The stairs themselves were of a roughly hewn stone that kept trying to catch his loafers. Once in a while he thought he heard voices. They seemed to echo down from above.

His side hurt like a mother fucker. He kept putting his hand to his ribs, expecting to see blood when he took it away but finding nothing. He had taken to clutching himself as he focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

He didn’t even see the wall before he walked into it. His head banged into the stone and he almost fell backwards. He caught his balance and felt a stab of fear at the idea of falling backwards. If he fell he knew it would be forever.

Jim reached up and felt the wall. It was made of the same stone as the stairs. He pushed against it… and thought he felt it move. Which seemed weird for a solid stone wall. And did it seem lighter here? Jim could swear the wall was giving off a slight glow. He braced himself and pushed against the wall again. Yup, it had definitely budged. Weird.

And was that voices? Yes! It was. Jim could hear people talking on the other side of the wall. They sounded excited.

“Hey! I’m down here!” He screamed at the wall. The voices responded by yelling what sounded like encouragement. Jim went to work. He hit and kicked and shoved at the wall. It would budge each time but not give way. Jim fought the wall until he was near exhaustion. He plunked down on the steps to take a break. He was sweating and his mouth was dry as a bone.

From this new point of view Jim could see a tiny slit at the base of the stone. As soon as he noticed it a folded piece of paper was pushed through. Jim opened up the paper. Well, look at that. It was one of Andy Taylor’s horse drawings. Jim smiled to himself. Good kid that Andy. He had drawn Jim sitting on a horse in full knights armor. That’s nice, thought Jim, as he closed his eyes for a moment.

When he opened his eyes he was surprised to see that the hands holding the paper were now gauntleted. He looked down at himself and saw he was wearing the armor from the drawing. Well, isn’t that something. Jim got back to his feet and assessed the wall anew. He drew back one fist and struck the wall as hard as he cold. A chunk of stone broke away. The voices on the other side began to shout their encouragement again. Jim punched away at the wall, breaking off pieces after piece with each strike. The voices got louder and built towards a cacophony. With each blow the light coming from the wall got brighter and brighter. With one final haymaker Jim’s arm broke through. Bright sunlight streamed through the opening.

Jim opened his eyes. It was dark and quiet. The only noise was a rhythmic beep, beep, beep. It smelled like floor cleaner. He was lying in a bed. His side still hurt. You’re in the hospital dummy, he told himself. Jim tried to raise his head but his side stabbed in protest.

“Hello,” he said. His voice sounded weak.

From the corner someone stirred in a chair. A woman Jim had never seen before sat up and looked at him. She stood and walked over to his bedside. She was the most beautiful woman Jim had ever seen. He felt his heart pounding in his chest. The beep, beep, beep sound got faster. The woman was smiling and had tears in her eyes.

“Hi Jim,” she said.

Jim looked up at the woman. Her voice sounded familiar.

“Who are you?” he asked in amazement.

The woman smiled and grasped his hand. Jim felt a jolt of electricity at her touch.

“My name is Susan. I’m your substitute.”

....

They fell madly in love of course and became inseparable. Susan continued to teach Jim’s class while he recuperated at home. They made love every night, gently at first, being careful not to open Jim’s stitches, and then with more urgency as time went on. Neither could explain it. They both felt like the other had always been there, just waiting to be discovered.

Andy Taylor’s father went to jail and the boy blossomed without him in the picture. Jim and Susan would sometimes give his mother a break and take him to the park.

Before the year was out they were married. Edna Cooper gave a toast and told the story of the day she met Susan, how she could tell right away that Jim was the right man for her. Everyone agreed it was a wonderful story. No one at the wedding knew that there was already a little one on the way. Susan carried around a wine glass full of apple juice all night to avoid any questions.

The following fall Jim took back his normal class while Susan was given a room of her own. Everyone marveled at how well they got along, both working and living together. For Jim and Susan there was never any question.

They both felt like home.