Gabrielle's Birthday Weekend 2013

The weekend of January 18^th, Serena and I took our first Mommy-Daughter trip to NYC, and we had a fabulous time.  We took a taxi to the Route 128 – Westwood station to catch a train, and it was SO cold that night!  Before the train came, I asked Serena (who was busy chatting with a friend on her cell phone before we left) if she was interested in sitting in the quiet car.  I LOVE the quiet car, and, in fact, I ride in the quiet car every day after work on the commuter rail.  I would ride it in the morning, too, except that it’s the last car in the morning, and I need to be in the first car to make sure that I get to work on time.  Serena and I were catching a 7:00 pm train, and she had already told me that she was planning to sleep the whole time, so I thought the quiet car would be a good idea.  Thankfully, she was interested.  

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to sit together at first.  You’d think folks would’ve tried to work it out so we could sit together, but we sat in aisle seats diagonally across from one another, so that wasn’t so bad.  Once we got to Rhode Island, the woman sitting next to Serena got off, so I went over and sat next to her (which was a good thing, because Serena was knocked out, and her head was progressively slumping over toward the woman’s shoulder.  I remember taking a bus ride with my parents when I was around her age, and not only falling asleep on the shoulder of the person sitting next to me, but there was a good deal of drool involved.  Oops! J). 

I was really enjoying sitting with Serena.  She was asleep on my lap, and now that she’s a tween, we don’t have tons of moments like that, so I treasure each and every one.  The problem, however, was that one of the women sitting in front of us was drenched in perfume. I am very sensitive to smells in general, but this was over the top.  Thankfully, a bunch of folks got off at the next stop, and we moved far away from her.  Sheesh!  Someone needs to make some kind of nostril inserts to ward off unwanted smells.  There are nostril shields for folks with allergies, but I haven’t found odor blocker inserts yet.  If someone shows up with something like that on Shark Tank, they should definitely get some funding.

Anyway, when we got to the station, Mommy was there waiting for us, and we all went to meet up with Daddy, who was waiting in the car.  On the way to Staten Island, they told us all about the damage done to lower Manhattan with Super Storm Sandy.  As we drove down the West Side Highway past the World Trade Center site, and through the Battery Tunnel, it was hard to imagine the tunnel being completely filled with water!  Wow.  New York survives devastating blow after devastating blow.  Survivors, for sure.

We stayed up chatting a bit, and Mommy surprised me the next morning with a vegetable crescent, which is veggie-filled, whole wheat crusted deliciousness.  She tricked me, too, because the night before, she asked me what I was going to have for breakfast, because she was planning on making omelets, and she and I like very different egg consistencies (Mommy likes very soft, gooey, runny eggs, and I like my eggs very well-done).  Alas, I woke up to the veggie crescent, and it was serendipitous!

We drove downtown Brooklyn for Gabrielle’s birthday brunch at Soco, and we had a great time. I hadn't spent Gabby's birthday with her in years!  The atmosphere was lovely, and the food was delicious.  They gave us complimentary bread baskets with cornbread and banana bread. Serena had the red velvet waffles and chicken, and I had a really tasty salad, chicken sausage and creamy, cheesy grits, a sweet tea, and for dessert I had a really good strawberry shortcake.  We were there with my parents, Gabby, two of her girlfriends, my sister (Thresa , a.k.a. Bootsie J), and my nephew, Amir.  Journey (my wonderful 16-year-old niece) wasn’t able to come, much to Serena’s chagrin (she LOVES Journey) because she takes college courses on Saturday (she is an academic BEAST!!  To the point that she has already passed senior AP English, and she’s a junior.  She’s taking a psych college course now, and will be taking a law course.  I hope she comes to school up near us.  Boston is a great college town!).  Serena went home with my sister so she could meet up with Journey.  


We drove Gabby’s friend, Amanda, to the train (it was great to spend time with her.  She’s very, very sweet, just like Gabby J). It's always nice when your family has good friends.  We drove past the new Barclays Center (really cool looking, except that whole rust thing going on on the outside. Not feeling that!). 

My dad picked Serena and Journey up later when he went back to Brooklyn for a speaking engagement, and I got to spend some quality time with the two young ladies that evening talking and watching Parks and Recreation (my recent guilty pleasure).  We also watched several performances of Hallelujah, which Journey loves, Feeling Good by Carly Rose Sonenclar on X-Factory (very impressive), and some American Idol performances. 

On Sunday, we woke up and just chilled in the house (I got to hang out with my dad, chatting and watching Sunday Morning) until it was time to go back to Brooklyn to see The Suit at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s (BAM) Harvey theater.  It was really nice to be back in Brooklyn.  I didn’t know anything about The Suit before we saw it, but it was a really good show.  It’s set in South Africa during apartheid, and the plot revolves around a husband’s very interesting reaction to his wife’s infidelity, and the consequences of unforgiveness.  Very powerful.  Nonhlanhla Kheswa played the wife – beautiful voice, powerful performance.  I looked her up on Google and wrote her through Facebook to let her know how much we enjoyed the performance, and now we’re FB friends.  How cool is that? J

After the play, we went back to Staten Island to have dinner at Bonefish Grill (Serena and I were with my parents, Journey, Bootsie and Gabby), and then we all went back and crashed, because Serena and I had to get up at around 4:30 the next morning to catch at 7 am train so we could get back home to spend part of MLK’s day watching the inauguration with Dishon and Cairo. 

We had a fabulous weekend, and I look forward to doing a Mommy-Son trip with Cairo soon, and making girls’ weekend a regular thing.  Now that the kids are getting so big . . . (after sharing a room since Cairo was born, they just got their own rooms a couple of weeks ago.  I WORKED Craig’s List, and after spending a weekend moving our room downstairs, and several days last week meeting up with folks and picking up furniture, their rooms are all set).  I LOVE being a mom, and I look forward weekends like these, getting to know the 2013 versions of Serena and Cairo ;).  

Painted On Canvas

My mom recently shared some music with me. That's one of my favorite things about my relationship with my mom - whether it be her sharing stylish clothes or slippers with me (Serena has absolutely inherited her sense of style and fashion), or the music she enjoys - she shares easily, and I am enriched by what she shares with me. She's very cool. I know I'm biased, but I think I have the best mom :). She's beautiful, creative and classy, her food and the cakes she bakes are beyond delicious, she has a big, infectious laugh, and she always smells good.

This music is by Gregory Porter. He's a jazz musician, and the first song she shared was On My Way to Harlem. That song, aside from how beautiful it is, is special to me, because both of my parents grew up in Harlem. As much as I enjoy my suburban life, one of my other favorite things was driving through Harlem on Greyhound back in the day, before I fell in love with the quiet car on Amtrak. There's something very special about Harlem.

When I came home after she shared that song with me, I created a Gregory Porter channel on Pandora, and discovered a few more of his songs. My new favorite is Painted On Canvas. Check out the lyrics:

We are like children
We're painted on canvases
Picking up shades as we go
We start off with gesso
brushed on by people we know
Watch your technique as you go
Step back and admire my view
Can I use the colors I choose?
Do I have some say what you use?
Can I get some greens and some blues?
We're made by the pigment of paint that is put upon
Our stories are told by our hues
Like Motley and Bearden
These masters of peace and light
Layers of color and time
Step back and admire my view
Can I use the colors I choose?
Do I have some say what you use?
Can I get some green with my blue?
We're just like children
We're painted on canvases . . .

I love this song. Not only do I want to be really cautious about who I allow to paint on my canvas and what colors they use, I want to be equally careful about what colors I paint on someone else's, and I want to remember to make sure I actually have permission to add to their canvases in the first place . . .

Christmas Road Trip

On Saturday, December 22, 2012, the Mills family headed out for Charlotte, North Carolina to spend Christmas with Dishon's side of the family.  Although they're originally from East Rutherford, New Jersey, Dishon's brother, sister, and mother have all moved down to Charlotte, and we have lots of nieces, nephews there, as well.

We left the house at about 4:45 a.m. We took Dishon's car - the more modern one with the seat warmers (I LOVE the seat warmers!), but it was touch and go for a while, because his car is also smaller than mine, and we weren't sure that everything would fit.  We had all the necessities - DVD players, and LOTS of movies, Interstate bingo and travel games, etc. After some adjustments - putting toys in smaller bags, leaving my pillow and Serena's large stuffed cat behind,  shoving my toiletry bag under Serena's feet - we were on the road.  Being a morning person, I took the first leg.  My intention was to stop at the Cracker Barrel in Sturbridge for breakfast, but since no one was on the road at that hour, we got to Sturbridge before Cracker Barrel was even open.  We stopped, instead, at a Panera Bread somewhere in Connecticut for breakfast a little later on (for those of you who have yet to discover the iExit iPhone app, you have to get it! You program your favorite restaurants, etc. into the app, and it alerts you when you're approaching the restaurant from any highway.  Very cool!). It had to have been on 84, because we had decided to take 84 to 81 down to Harrisonburg, Virginia to rest for the night. It was pretty cool, because we were the only ones in the restaurant. We continued on, and I expected to see signs on overpasses in honor of those who died in Newtown as we passed through that section of Connecticut, but I didn't.  We stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch instead (not sure where, though - maybe somewhere in Pennsylvania).  Being at Cracker Barrel during the holidays is magical! It's already a cozy place, but even more so with the ornaments - I got this really cool rocking chair ornament, and some cute earrings.

Dishon and I started listening to the Divergent audiobook by Veronica Roth.  Very gripping!  It was so nice to see the kids' reactions to all the cows and mountains the further south we drove. The only downside to our travels that day was getting stuck on the two lane route 81 because of an accident, and once the road opened up again, seeing a sign that said there was another accident just ahead of us. We pulled of to switch drivers, which is where we truly realized that we were in the south.  A couple overheard us talking about the traffic, and gave us an alternate route that would save us time.  No disrespect to folks in the northeast - you all know I'm a Brooklyn girl, but southern hospitality is a real, comforting, and refreshing thing . . . Folks in restaurants just strike up conversation with you spontaneously, and the pace is much more easy going. So we saved a little time on route 11, and could see the tractor trailer, ambulances, and fire trucks from where we were, because route 11 runs parallel to 81.  We got back on the road, and arrived at our hotel shortly after that.  We stayed at the Residence Inn in Harrisonburg, VA, and had dinner at the Outback Steakhouse.  Although our hotel was very nice, we pretty much went right to sleep after dinner.

Road Trip Serena

The next morning, we ate at the hotel.  One of the things I like most about the Residence Inn is the complimentary breakfast - a real breakfast - not that continental stuff :).  Fell in love with the coffee cup lid. Not sure what was up with that . . . I just know that we got some new disposable coffee cups with the same type of lid when we got back home, and I was happy about that.  We headed out and had lunch at Cracker Barrel again.  We arrived just as folks were getting out of church, so it was pretty crowded, but we sat in the rocking chairs, and played with the cutest little boy while his family was also waiting to be seated.  We also discovered a song that SO fits Dishon's perspective when it comes to Serena dating in the future - Rodney Atkins' song called Cleaning This Gun.  My sensitivity to gun violence because of what happened in Newtown aside for a second, the title really speaks for itself, but here is the chorus:

Come on in boy sit on down
And tell me about yourself
So you like my daughter do you now?
Yeah we think she's something else
She's her daddy's girl
Her momma's world
She deserves respect
That’s what she'll get
Now ain't it son?
Y’all go out and have some fun
I'll see you when you get back
Probably be up all night
Still cleanin' this gun

Any of you who know Dishon can see him listening to this song, and saying, "That's exactly right!" Thankfully, although there's a little boy in Serena's class who loves her, she is very practical, and isn't into boys yet.  Dishon's response? "God gave me the little girl I need." LOL!

Taurean

Isn't he adorable?

We arrived in Charlotte at around 3:30, unloaded all of our stuff, and enjoyed time with the family.  We hadn't been down there in about three years, so it was really good to see everyone.  Of course you know that kids grow up, but when you've known a child since they were little, and haven't seen them in a while, it's amazing how they grow!  So beautiful.  We got to meet our 15-month-old nephew for the first time, and he is the most darling little boy.  I hadn't held a baby in a long time, and he let me hold him right away, which was so nice! :)  Serena and Cairo enjoyed playing with him, too.  Dinner was great (although there was an incident - Dishon's niece makes a great fried turkey.  Serena and Cairo agreed, and they both, though it was more Cai than Serena, stripped all of the skin off of the turkey and devoured it. They were like the Bumpus dogs from A Christmas Story! The family was shocked, and not too pleased ;), and we got to spend time with our oldest nephew on Dishon's side.  The next day we picked up a few things from Walmart and hung around the house.  Dishon and I are both homebodies, so just being around family was good.  We tried to make it to Dishon's brother and girlfriend's house in Kings Mountain, NC, but by the time dinner was ready, it was late, so we stayed at his mom's house.

We spent Christmas day in Kings Mountain, and it was wonderful.  They live in a house that was formerly a plantation, so it was interesting to see the cotton fields, and the bell that was used to call the enslaved in from the fields. The house was so cozy!  We especially enjoyed the sun room, and watching A Series of Unfortunate Events. Christmas dinner was great, and we got to take lots of pictures.

 Our nephews drove with Dishon's mom to Kings Mountain, but they had to leave early, so we had the pleasure of having Dishon's mom ride back to Charlotte with us.  She fell asleep in the back seat with the kids, and Dishon and I continued listening to Divergent.



The next morning, I woke up not feeling very well.  I was sick all that day - fever, chills, runny nose . . . thankfully I had already picked up some cold meds and those really good Puffs tissues with Vicks a couple of days before, because Serena hadn't been feeling well.  I just laid around, napped, watched TV, etc.  It rained and rained the day after Christmas, so the kids didn't go outside.  It was colder than the weather reports had said. The rest of the week was pretty much like that - hanging around the house, talking with family, eating good food - Dishon's mom gave us some jewelry that she's been wanting to pass on.  I also copied some pictures that Mama had that we didn't.  She has SO many family pictures on the walls!


On Wednesday, I hung around with Dishon while Mama took the kids clothes shopping. She picked out some cute clothes for them, and Cairo is in love with his new fleece jacket.  On Thursday, Mama had some folks over from her church for a luncheon.  It was great to meet them, since we weren't there for a service, and they have been so supportive with prayers and resources for our church plant in Randolph - the Redeemed of Christ Church (ROCC).  I actually got to meet the mom of one of my college friends.  I didn't even realize she'd be there! :)

 On Friday night, Dishon's niece and great niece were back from their visit further south.  His sister, her husband, and her friend came over, too, as well as his brother, brother's girlfriend and the baby. His niece and nephew live with Mama, so they were already there.  In addition to having a very satisfying meal, Dishon's sister and niece, who both have their hair locked as well, gave me some oils and lock jewelry for my hair.  I love being adorned :).

The next morning, Dishon's mom cooked breakfast for us one last time, and we hit the road.  I was a little nervous about the trip, because it seemed like we might be driving into snow, but our trip to College Park, Maryland was perfect (with the exception of a weird detour trying to find lunch in Delaware).  We spent the night with our good friend, and her hospitality was incredible.  Great conversation, great food . . . wonderful. She introduced me to this new Chai tea that I fell in love with.  It's on its way from Amazon.com on Monday! :)

We headed out to NYC on Sunday morning, and arrived at around 4:30.  We stayed at my parents' place with my sister and her three kids.  Again, more great food, laughter, hugs, conversation, and Mommy's cakes and peach cobbler!!!  Turns out my parents have found a house they want to buy on Staten Island, and, after cutting her locks off, my mom has locked her hair again! She gave me a really cute little stuffed reindeer and lots of cake for the road.  Looks like my whole family is hooked on Scandal as well! :)

We left on New Year's Eve morning, also my parents' 37th wedding anniversary, and had a great trip back home, stopping at Red Lobster in Connecticut on the way and enjoying some cheesy biscuits and some pretty good seafood.  The trip couldn't have been more wonderful!  It's good to be home, but I miss being together with everyone, especially with no family up here in Massachusetts.  Serena and I are going back to NYC in a few weeks, though, to celebrate Gabrielle's birthday, and we'll see his family again in July for the family reunion.

Happy New Year, everyone! :)

Quick Update

Hello, all.  I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season :).  We've had an eventful past few weeks!  Lots of celebrating - Serena is  now 11, and Cairo turned 10 yesterday.  We actually did end up going to the Poconos, after all, and it was fabulous!  Unfortunately, I ended up in the ER last Thursday night with a kidney infection while Dishon was in Oklahoma.  It was scary, but I'm on the mend.  We have Cairo's travel dates for his trip to Canada (7/2 - 7/13/13).  The many workshops I've been leading at work have been a great success, and now we're gearing up for a family road trip to spend Christmas in Charlotte, NC.  I just wanted to say hi and happy holidays to everyone.  While we're away, I'll be working on the second episode of The Watcher (finally :), and I hope to post it in early January.  Thanks for being a part of my tribe . . .

Love,

Afrika

Vicarious Fireplaces

I grew up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York.  When it was cold, our apartment was heated by radiators.  I didn’t think anything of it.  With the exception of a few friends who had homes off of Rogers Avenue as you get closer to Empire Boulevard, all of my friends lived in apartments.  I only ever remember going to a classmate’s house once, and I’d visit relatives out in Patchogue, Long Island during the summer, but those visits took place in the summer, so I wasn’t thinking about heat. 

Not so much in my neighborhood now, although I do live in the suburbs, but mostly when I’m driving Serena to gymnastics on Wednesday and Thursday nights, I have the pleasure of passing homes with fireplaces.  I LOVE the smell of fireplaces, and when we’re able to go to our special little bed and breakfast in the Poconos, it’s so great to be able to sit in front of the fireplace.  It’s just so cozy! I would love to have a fireplace in our home, but getting to be around one sometimes is also pretty nice.  

One of the most heartbreaking things for me recently is, after wanting to go to the winter celebration at our special bed and breakfast in the Poconos for the past four years, having reservations for the weekend of December 1^st for the special holiday dinner, and fantasizing about sitting in front of the fireplace when it’s actually cold, and not in the spring when we usually go for our anniversary, we realized that we actually won’t be able to go that weekend. Sigh.  

Wouldn’t it be so nice to have a money tree? That way, when we have to unexpectedly drop over $1K to fix Dishon’s car, and another $1K to fix my fractured tooth, it wouldn’t derail romantic weekends like this one. I'm keeping hope alive, though.  Maybe something miraculous will happen in the next week, and we'll still be able to go. I'm going to hold on to that reservation until we absolutely have to cancel. If we aren't able to go, there’s always next December . . .  :(  I guess, then, vicarious fireplaces will have to continue to suffice.  

The Amazing Race Weekend

On Saturday, October 27th, Randolph had its first Amazing Race as a part of our Harvest Hoopla.  We started out at Powers Farm, which is a new gathering place in the town where there’s a little playground, lots of green space, a walking trail, a covered picnic area, etc.  This was the first year for the Amazing Race.  The rules stated that no one on our team could be behind the wheel of a car at any time.  Since the buses don’t run regularly on Saturdays, and taking a taxi all over town would be costly, we decided to walk everywhere.  It wasn’t really fair, because there were teams of teenagers who had their parents drive them around to collect the clues.  In retrospect, we probably could’ve had  Dishon drive us, since the teams could be as smaller as three, and at least one person under 18, but I’m glad we didn’t use a car.

Higashi School

Our first clue led us to the Boston Higashi School.  This was really challenging because the exit was closer to where we were coming from, so we went in that way on foot, and we encountered a man who works for the Higashi school who told us that the folks at the school didn’t know anything about the race.  We thought we were at the wrong school, and started to head in another direction, but then some of the other participants had mercy on us and told us we were headed the wrong way.  The person with the next clue was at the entrance to the Higashi School, so we went back to get the clue, but lost quite a bit of time. 

Zapustas

 

The next site was Daddy’s Dairy.  Unfortunately, it was here that both kids started to complain about being tired, and we had just begun!  If we had known that we’d be doing so much walking (we didn’t know about the no driving rule until we were at Powers Farm), we would definitely had given Serena her inhaler and brought along bottles of water, but we’ll do that next year.  The next clue was verbal, and took us across town to the Zapustas Ice Arena.  There we took a bathroom break and bought lots of bottles of water from the snack bar.  

The next clue was hidden at the Elks Hall.  That clue took us to the new Memorial Field where Dishon represented the family well by kicking a soccer goal (we chose between that and a field goal).  We passed by one of the teams heading back to Powers Farm, so although we were encouraged when we saw lots of envelopes remaining at each of the sites, seeing that team heading back at that point reminded us that we were really just in it for the fun of it :).

Randolph High

  

Fire Station

The next clue led us to the pool at the HS where we had to guess how many pieces of candy corn were in a jar, and the count was the combination for the locker that contained our next clue, so we had to be precise.  The next clue took us to the fire station, and then finally back near the track where we had to choose between hitting two 3-point shots, or five 2-point shots.  We opted for the latter, and Dishon represented our family well yet again.  There was a school bus that ultimately would take us back to Powers Farm, but we decided to just go ahead and walk.  By the time we ended up back at Powers Farm, we didn’t even know where to go, because so many of the teams had already finished, and lots of other activities were going on.  So, we didn’t get the $500 prize, the $250 prize, or the dinner and a movie, but we had fun (or, at least Dishon and I did).  Next year we may have to kick our shorties to the curb, and find another person to complete our team, and let the kids just cheer us on :). 

The rest of that night was a lot of fun, too!  We were interested in the hot air balloon, but since Hurricane Sandy was coming, the weather prevented the balloon from going up, but isn’t it beautiful?  We had pizza for lunch, and after a nap, the kids got dressed up (Serena was Supergirl, and Cairo was the Green Lantern), went to the Haunted Hayride (we had the option between scary and not-so-scary, but we went all in for scary), and then to Trunk or Treat at Imagination station.  We figured that at least if Halloween was interrupted by the hurricane, the kids would have some candy.

We were at home together because of the hurricane on Monday, but thankfully, we never lost power, and didn’t experience any flooding.  It was still a little stressful, because the wind was fierce, and we are surrounded by very large pine trees.  But all was well, and our prayers go out to all who suffered loss :(.  

The Watcher, Part I

April sat across from the two women on the train and tried not to stare at them.  She felt the tension from her grimacing forehead and knew that she wasn't doing a great job of averting her glance.  She had seen them on the train before. It seemed like maybe they met up at the station and traveled into work together pretty regularly. 

"Girl, please," one woman said to the other, gently slapping her friend on the arm.  "You know my boss is not going to let me take a Friday off before a long weekend."  They were familiar.  Familiar enough for one of them to know what the other's boss was like. 

"Yeah, I know.  That's why I wouldn't even say anything to him about it.  Just call in sick.  He won't want a doctor's note if it's less than three days. You can't say no to a weekend on the Vineyard.  You know I can't pay for that whole place by myself."  Familiar.  Familiar enough for one of them to know the other's financial situation.  April sighed, and turned to the back of the Metro.  She might as well sign up for one of the medical studies.  She figured that, aside from her students, no one would miss her much if she disappeared for two weeks for a sleep study.  April scanned through the ads, stopping briefly at the one about depression.  She didn't know if she was clinically depressed, or just sad.  Was there a difference?  When the two women laughed aloud, April almost cried.  Why was it so hard to find a good friend?

She had come close several times.  It seemed like she was connecting with Robin at work. Robin was one of those down to earth women who could easily be trusted, and was quick to say yes to a girl’s night out.  She had even invited April to be part of a book club, and even though April hated the book, she endured it to enjoy Robin's company.  But Robin's position at the school was cut, and she was working in another part of the city now.  April had never been a phone person, so they tried keeping in touch through texts and Facebook.  Out of sight, out of mind took over pretty quickly, though, and she hadn't heard from Robin in over six months.  

Just before her train approached the station, she reached the back page of the Boston Metro, and found a handwritten note between the pages.  Meet me by the Dunkin Donuts.  Weird.  She was sure that note must’ve been intended for someone else.  Who would’ve even had a chance to put this note in there, though?  Just like every morning, she got her paper directly from the guy who handed the papers out to passengers as they rushed to their trains.  Morning, grab your freeee Metro.  He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would’ve written that note.  And which Dunkin Donuts?  The one at the station she left, or the one at the station she was headed to? 

April glanced down at her watch as the train pulled into the station, and realized that she had a little extra time.  What could it hurt?  She could use a little adventure.  She took the stairs two at a time and stood in front of the Dunkin Donuts just outside of the station.  People rushed out with their coffee, and in looking for their morning fix.  She stood there for five minutes, and nothing special happened.  April went in and looked around.  Everything seemed normal.  No one waiting around.  She held the door for the next person to enter the store on her way out - a teen-aged girl with tears streaming down her face. 

“Thank you,” the girl said to April.  “That’s the first nice thing that happened to me all morning.”

April looked down at the note, checked her watch again, and even though she risked being late to work, she had a prep for first period, so it wouldn’t be so bad.

“Are you okay?” April asked the girl, closing the door, and pulling her to the side near the straws and napkins.

“No,” the girl said, shaking her head and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, which April noticed was bruised.  “I’m not okay at all.  I’m in a lot of trouble.”