“Ma!”
“And just like that, quiet time is over.”
Janae took a sip of her steaming-hot coffee and smiled. Although she could’ve used a few more moments of quiet, Janae’s mouth couldn’t help but bend into a happy smile at the sound of her pride and joy yelling her name through the house.
She stood, grabbing her “Nurses Save Lives” mug as she ambled to the wall, turning on the light before stepping behind the counter.
“And three, two, one…”
Heavy footsteps descended the back staircase that led into her kitchen and the greatest accomplishment in her life emerged into the room.
“Morning, son-shine.” Save for his tall and lanky frame, James Sanders was the fifteen-year-old spitting image of his mother. The moment he heard her call him by his nickname, his sleepy eyes brightened as he walked over to her, grabbing her in a hug.
“Morning, Ma. When did you get in?”
“About an hour ago.” She took a sip of her coffee before continuing. “My twelve-hour shift was long, but we didn’t have too many overnight cases. I got a bit of sleep in the on-call room.” He wrapped her up in his long arms and she laid her head on his chest and sighed. She remembered a time when she towered over him and it was his head against her chest. Now, her baby was almost an adult. Realizing she didn’t have that many more years of these kinds of morning greetings, she wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed.
“You got time for breakfast this morning? Do you need to leave early for dance practice, or is it fashion design today?”
That was the problem with working flex time overnights. She did twelve-hour shifts three days a week. As a parent, it was great. She had four days off a week to be there for her son. The only problem was, working those long shifts overnight meant she sometimes mixed up her days of the week.
Thank God for her calendar. She tapped on the icon to see she was right, it was dance practice this morning.
There was an extended pause, which drew her eyes up to his.
“No practice. I can have breakfast with you.”
Something about the way he answered her didn’t sit right with Janae. As a mother, you learned to understand all the cues your kid let slip, whether they meant for the slip to happen or not.
She pulled her phone from the front pocket of her robe and tapped her cellphone screen to check the day of the week. Shiftwork had a habit of blending your days together, so she needed to make certain she wasn’t mixing up her days.
“It’s Thursday, James. You always have early practice on Thursday. Did your schedule change?”
“You could say that.”
He walked over to the fridge to grab a small bottle of apple juice before returning to the counter where she stood.
“Principal Keller called a meeting during last period yesterday to tell us that effective immediately, the extracurricular design and performing arts programs would be suspended due to lack of funding from the district.”
“What?”
James twisted the bottle open, downing half of its contents in one gulp.
“She said announcements would go out to parents’ emails last night, and each of us was to take a written notice home with us.” Adding quickly before she could ask the question, “Mine is in my bag.”
She rarely checked her email at work, making it completelypossible to have missed any communication from the school last night. A quick glance at her in-box from her phone, and she pulled the email up.
A fast scan of the email confirmed everything her son had reported. Her stomach sank at the realization of what this actually meant. The truth that would be revealed if this decision was allowed to stand.
“They can’t just do that with no warning.”
“Apparently, they can.” James plopped himself in a chair at the counter. “You making eggs?”
She pulled her head up from her phone and glanced at her son who was already picking up his discarded tablet that sat sleeping on the countertop.
“James, who are you trying to fool, me or you? Don’t sit there and act like this doesn’t bother you. You love that program.”
And so did she, for reasons she couldn’t disclose.
