This story is interesting. It doesn't start or end at any specific point, but I guess the easiest way to tell the story of how my life as I knew it came crashing down, is, to begin with, the Saturday when I met him.
I had always loved sunrises. The colors alone were beautiful enough, but my favorite thing was how they seemed to make the whole world a little bit yellow-ish. It used to give me a sort of peace in my morning drive to school. However, after graduation, my move to the west coast had left me longing to see one. For some reason I had forgotten that Washington was not only dreary but exceptionally rainy as well, making my treasured sunrises rare.
Therefore, you can imagine my surprise when I awoke that Saturday morning to find the world ablaze with the kind of yellowish light that I had been missing for so long. I had just survived my first week of high school all over again; this time as a history teacher. I had been planning to be a teacher since I was in third grade. Since then, I had collected ideas of what to say and do in every form imaginable. For example, I knew exactly which music I wanted to play during our 1920's unit and which dress I wanted to dress up in to pretend to be Marie Antoinette.
It was on this morning, sipping my unsugared tea and watching the sunrise that I received a call for my first position as a tutor.
An English teacher had always been a second choice for me as a teaching subject, however, the seemingly infinite amount of graded papers required from such a position immediately turned the idea into one of disgust. Although, I had decided that I might need a bit of pocket money; and the idea of grading just a few students papers in an attempt to help them write better as well as picking up a few bucks here and there, seemed far less daunting.
The caller had apparently seen my flier and decided a tutor may be beneficial to her son. Her voice was that of a mother, the kind that cared enough to cover her son with a blanket or blow on the hot soup when he was younger but also wouldn't take the bullshit he had apparently tried to pull on her. Apparently, he had failed senior English last year and hid it from his mother who was unable to find a cover for her shift at work to see his graduation. She had been too exhausted to celebrate that night, and they both were busy for weeks afterward that the missing diploma had gone unnoticed for quite some time.
He had nearly pulled off his scheme until she asked to his diploma mid-summer, and, unable to produce it, he had been immediately re-enrolled for senior year in the fall, as summer school was already half way through. I suppose her hiring me was her way of keeping track of her son, and at least providing him some guaranteed homework time.
"Is there any way you can tutor him more than once a week? I need something to keep track of that boy or who knows what will happen" she laughed half-heartedly over the phone, but part of the way she said it made me think she was more serious than joking.
"I'm free Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, for 45 minutes if that's alright?" I replied, checking over my near empty calendar half-heartedly.
"Oh that actually sounds perfect!" the woman replied. "His name is Brady and he's tall and darker and um…. Oh, you'll recognize him when you see him." I'll send him to that coffee shop on Burns Street at around noon if that okay with you."
"It is. I'll see him then. Thank you!"
I hung up the phone after I had heard her goodbye as well, and swiveled around in my chair for triumphant measure. That coffee shop was about a two minute drive from here. And it was far from noon. So I finished my tea and got myself ready to enjoy the nice weather for once.
To my surprise, the sun still hadn't completely gone away when noon rolled around and I headed into the Coffee Shop. I ordered a small tea and took a seat at a large table by the window. I was early, as I always am, and found myself looking through the thing I had packed once more. I mean, what was an English tutor supposed to bring? I had thrown a few items into the bag like a pad of paper, a few pens, and a thesaurus. I scanned the room once again, searching for the alleged 'tall' man I was to be meeting with. Nope. Not here yet. Isn't going on your phone while waiting for a student unprofessional? Then again it is the modern age, just sitting seems strange. But what else is there to do? I had never known what to do with myself when I didn't have something to directly focus on. Maybe try breathing exercises?
Just while I was about to turn myself into the local freak, the bell rang from the door, signaling the entrance of what appeared to be the tallest man who had ever lived. This must be him.
I worked up the courage to speak. "Hello, are you Brady? I'm Anna."
"Oh god." he muttered and ran his fingers through his hair, all the while looking me up and down as if my stature had anything to do with my tutoring capabilities "Look, I don't need a tutor. Just …. I can do this on my own." He seemed agitated and stressed like he wanted to be anywhere but here. Still, I couldn't let my first client go.
I shot him a concerned look "Look, I got a teaching degree to help students like you, so at least let me correct a few old papers to help you see what you did wrong? It may be early on in the school year to have much homework but we can still work on overall writing ability." I pressed a smile out and tried to look understanding, despite the lack of details. After all, maybe once he sees how bad he is at English he'll accept my help.
"W- What? I didn't bring any old papers with me if that's what you're suggesting… I came here because my mom told me she hired you and I was going to cancel."
"Well, it looks like it's too late for that now, isn't it kiddo?" I smirked at the word kiddo. He frowned. "Still, even if I can't be a great English tutor for you, I can try to be a listening ear?" I suggested hopefully.
"Dear God… let's just go get some old papers for you to correct." He muttered, assuming sensing my in ability to give up.
As always in any story ever, comments are so so appreciated. Also, i feel like my writing has been kind of choppy and robotic recently? I've been in Essay mode for almost year now and have been unable to write freely so here goes nothing right? right? Anyways, i apologise for it but i hope ot get more fluid and poetic with my word choice further on. Thanks for reading, thanks double for commenting.