Chapter 3
For the first time of all his visits, Andrea is sad to see her dad go. She tries not to linger on the resurging memories and remembers that she had promised to call the Samuel Linden guy from Manhattan Elementary back.
"Hello? Ms. Sachs?"
Mr. Linden answers on the first ring,
"Hello, I am just calling back to accept your job offer. When do I begin?"
"Splendid, splendid! I am the principle at Manhattan Elementary. If you can stop by tomorrow morning and fill out some paperwork, you will begin tomorrow afternoon with your first art class! Of course we provide all the art materials you will need but if there is anything you are missing, you can just purchase it yourself and I'll make sure you are reimbursed later. Any questions?"
"Not really…Wait! What time should I be at the school?"
"Well…you would want adequate time to fill out the legal work and set up the class room…so how about 6?"
Andrea groans inwardly, she is not used to having a job. "Sounds great…see you tomorrow!"
"Bye now."
"Goodbye."
Without realizing what she was doing, Andrea plasters on a fake smile as if Mr. Linden could actually see her. OK…she thought I can do this! It's certain. She now works at Manhattan Elementary as an art teacher. As Andrea microwaves a frozen meal for lunch, she feels both excitement and nervousness about her new occupation. What if the children don't like me? What if I don't know what to teach? Thousands of insecurities flood her mind that day. With so much to think about before the next morning, Andrea ends up cleaning her whole apartment, eating dinner, and then she begins to clear out her closet of old clothes to donate to charity. Andrea makes a pile of torn or stained clothing and pile for donation which were both pretty large. Even so, she has tons of clothes in her closet that she probably does not need or will not wear again. She tells herself she does not enjoy shopping, but when she goes with her friends she always finds tons of deals and bargains and cannot help but buy. With vacuumed carpet, sweeped tile, and wiped surfaces she spends a while deciding on her outfit for her first day of teaching. Hmmmm…she thought. I want something crisp and proper, but still feminine. Perfect! Her eyes locked onto an expensive, designer dress that seemed to have two parts: a button down, short sleeve top with an attached knee-length, pencil skirt. She grabbed a pair of black leather heels, black sheer hose, and a leather purse then ironed the dress. By the time the clothes on the floor were bagged up either for donation or trash and her outfit was hanging in her closet, ready for the morning, it was already 11pm. She watches "Comedy Central" until midnight, sets her alarm clock, and heads to bed.
"Goodmorning Krusty Crew! Goodmorning Krusty Crew!" Andrea wakes up to the blaring of her SpongeBob alarm clock, 5:30am. She groans and slaps the snooze button hard, surprising that the cheap contraption does not shatter. Soon, she falls back asleep, but another alarm disturbs her slumber. She is about to finish off the device when she remembers what today is. Shit! she thinks Gotta go to work! Gotta go to work! She jumps out of bed and turns off the alarm, rushing to the bathroom while simultaneously hopping out of her shorts and taking off her shirt. She goes to the bathroom, brushes her teeth, and washes her face. Then she runs over to the closet and finds her clothes hanging from the night before. She puts them on and walks steadily to the kitchen to eat a bagel and make some black coffee. Ten minutes later she is in a taxi where the dashboard reads 5:50am. Damn it…she thinks, hoping she will not be late.
"I need to get to Manhattan Elementary. And step on it!"
"Uh…Yes mam! Right away!"
With that the chubby driver takes off from the front of her apartment and Andrea takes one final glance at the dashboard before giving up and watching as the familiar sites of her neighborhood blur in the window.