September 7th, 1993

Marceline sat at the breakfast table, discordantly banging a spoon against a bowl. Her cereal, along with her longanimity, had disappeared long ago. The unrelenting tapping was all she had to keep herself entertained. Eventually, she rose from the table and began to pace, using the silver utensil to make music with appliances around the kitchen. Relief flowed through her body when her parents finally came downstairs.

"Finally! I've been waiting forever." Marceline groaned.

"Yeah, we heard you," Eric quipped. He put Marcy's dishes away before she could do any more damage.

Marceline stuck out her tongue. "What took you guys so long anyway?"

"We were-," Donna looked suggestively at Eric. "Taking care of business."

"We promise to be earlier tomorrow. That is, unless we have more jobs to do." Eric put his arms around his wife's waist and kissed her

Marceline scrunched her face. "Can we go now, before I puke?"

"Hey, believe it or not, you're actually going to like kissing boys once you're older," Donna came over to her daughter and played with her hair for a second. "But yeah, we should get going."

Outside, thousands of children joined the usual crowd of tightwads in business suits and artists with straggly hair. Marceline blended right in, weaving expeditiously through the streets. She had been talking about starting elementary school since the beginning of the summer, and wanted to get there as fast as possible. Kindergarten seemed more promising than preschool. Learning about rudimentary concepts like the five senses and nine planets was not enough for her. She wanted to know why it rained and how mountains were formed and why people thought it was okay to hurt one another. But most importantly, she wanted to be able to read and write.

Even though P.S. 11 was only a few blocks away, Eric and Donna felt like it took forever for them to get there. Their daughter was prepared to start school, but they were not completely ready to let go. Marceline was inquisitive and self-reliant, and was sure to do well today. Regardless, she was their baby. It was hard for them to watch her grow up. But, they had to let her flourish.

For the first day, Donna and Eric got to walk Marceline to her classroom. Before saying goodbye, they helped her put her stuff down and introduced themselves to her teacher. Dropping her off was rather easy because, unlike most of the kids there, Marcy wasn't nervous about leaving her parents.

"Have a good day, honey. You're gonna have so much fun." Donna affirmed.

Marcy smiled. "Thanks. I hope so."

"You're gonna be great, Marce. Maybe when I pick you up later, we can get ice cream or something." Eric professed.

"I like the sound of that," Marceline hugged both of her parents at the same time. "Bye, mom. Bye, dad. I love you."

"I love you, too." Donna and Eric spoke in unison. They pulled away from their daughter with some reticence. After watching her settle into her classroom, they returned to the frenetic sidewalks of Manhattan.

"That was kind of weird," Donna stated.

"Yeah. God, we're old." Eric laughed.

Donna flicked her hand, as to protest his statement. "Oh, please. We're only 33. We've got a lot of time left."'

"Hmm, you're right." Eric took Donna's hand. "Hey, since you have time before work, do you want to stop and get breakfast?"

"That sounds good," Donna concurred.

The walk to the cafe was delightfully quiet. Instead of speaking, Eric and Donna just enjoyed each other's company and the foliage. Early fall had caused the scenery to metamorphose from green to red and yellow. The city had become lined with these warm-colored leaves. Burning humidity had given way to chill breezes, causing everybody to cool down in more ways than one.

A part of Eric's life was changing as well. Over the past two years, he had been working on becoming certified in secondary English education. He'd only mentioned this once to Donna, and she hadn't thought much of it. All of Eric's friends knew that he hadn't done so well in high school. But, he had grown weary of teaching kids. They were too rambunctious, and having to go over every subject every day was tedious. Focusing on one topic was simple, even though high schoolers were complicated.

It would have been Eric's first day back at work if he was still teaching third grade. In the middle of summer, he had landed a job at a high school in the East Village. Although he was proud, he had not gotten around to telling Donna about it. But, this information could not be withheld for much longer, as he was supposed to start next week. He figured that going to a cafe would help him be less frightened about sharing the news.

Donna thought of this affair as nothing more than a morning date. She and Eric sat on opposite sides of a booth. For the longest time, they just smiled at each other and glanced out the window. Too many thoughts were running through Eric's head for him to make conversation. What if Donna thought he wasn't smart enough to teach 10th graders? Would she be mad that he hadn't kept her in the loop about what he was doing? He tried to think of ways to distract himself, or calm his queasy stomach, but he drew a blank. When their eggs and bacon finally came, Eric found the courage to speak up.

"So, you know how I told you that I wanted to start teaching high school kids?" Eric reminded.

"Yeah, kind of. I wasn't sure if you were being serious." Donna recalled.

"Well, I was. I took classes at Hunter College on Saturday afternoons, and sometimes at night. And well, it worked out. I got a job at a school in the East Village." Eric informed.

Donna inhaled sharply. She shakily sipped her water before looking back at her husband. "Eric, that's great. I'm proud of you, I really am. It's just a bit sudden. Why were you hiding this from me?"

Eric hunched over. "I was afraid of your reaction. You weren't too enthusiastic when I said that I wanted to change careers. I thought you might think I wasn't good enough to teach older kids."

"Eric, look at me," He raised his head back up. Donna was frowning slightly. Her focus was away from him, like she was trying to find the right words to say. "You don't have to be scared to tell me stuff. Before, I wasn't totally supportive, and I'm sorry. I'm behind you on whatever you want to do, unless that thing is cheating on me or moving into a war zone or selling our daughter into slavery."

Eric's mouth began to turn up again. "It's okay. Honestly, I'd probably have the same reaction if you told me that you wanted to be a political writer for The Times or something like that. It's possible, but I can't picture you doing it."

"Neither can I. But, obviously, you are fit to be an English teacher. Just don't get a tweed jacket, okay?" Donna bantered.

Eric and Donna topped off their morning with jokes and memories about stereotypical English teachers. Eric was still a bit uneasy about this change, but talking to Donna had helped him feel more content. He came to the realization that if his five-year-old daughter could start at a new school with little to no fear, then he could as well. The couple walked out of the cafe ready to face the day. As always, they exchanged soft goodbyes before splitting off to the separate parts of their lives.