"But Daddeleh, I don't want to go!" whined Seth, pouting into his bowl of cereal that was getting soggier by the minute.
Sandy exhaled deeply, wishing Kirsten didn't have to be out of town quite so much, especially not today.
He turned from the coffee pot to his son's imploring gaze.
Noticing that the whining was more a product of fear of being separated from his parents for a whole 6 hours rather than just being difficult, he seated himself next to Seth and reassured him that Mommy thought his teacher was lovely, that he was sure Seth would make lots of friends and that he'd learn a lot too.
He then promised to be waiting at the school gate at "precisely three o' clock", to quote his son, which seemed to have comforted his little boy a little.
"If you've finished your breakfast, go upstairs and brush your teeth please," Sandy commanded.
"You wouldn't want to be late now, would you? Daddies who bring their Seths to school late get into Big Trouble!" he continued, lightening the mood and making Seth giggle with his tone of voice and humourous choice of words.
Seth's face lit up, then he nodded and ran upstairs, "just as fast as Superman", he claimed.
Sandy smiled, pleased that his words had restored his son's mood. He examined the contents of Seth's lunchbox, checking that the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, juice box, apple and packet of California raisins were all present and correct. Content that everything was there, he shut the box and sipped at his coffee. A smile crossed his face when he remember Seth's insistance that Kirsten position the label that bore his name somewhere that didn't obscure any part of the Spiderman figure that adorned the front of the lunchbox. A compromise had been reached as the label was positioned in the top right hand corner, covering one of the superhero's fingers.
Seth came running down the stairs and flung himself on his father's leg. Sandy smiled, smoothed Seth's hair and deposited a kiss on the top of his head.
Seth pulled away a little, and Sandy straightened the collar of his son's white polo shirt and pulled his navy Berkeley sweatshirt down. The phone rang suddenly and Sandy was pleased to see Kirsten's cell phone number come up on the caller display.
"Hi honey, everything OK?" he questioned as he picked up the phone.
Seth tugged at his jumper, demanding to know if it was his mother and if it was, could he speak to her.
Satisfied that she was coping with being with her father, he told her Seth wanted to speak to her.
He picked his son up and handed him the phone.
"Hi Mommy," he chirruped happily. "Yes, Daddy's fine, he's being good, I'm looking after him fine! I miss you, when are you coming home? " he babbled, obviously thrilled to be talking to her.
"OK, I'll see you tomorrow then! Do you want to speak to Daddy again?" he asked, waiting for a reply. "Yes, that's true, we are late-is Daddy in trouble with you? OK Mommy, bye! Don't forget my present!" he exclaimed finally before switching the phone off and giving to his dad to put back in its cradle.
"We'd better go then, hadn't we? Have you got everything?" Sandy enquired of his son, handing him his lunchbox as he grabbed his backback with a picture of Spiderman, who else, on it.
He put his mug in the sink, found his car keys and they were off!
They arrived at the school in good time, as the GPS lady had found them a shortcut. Seth threw his stuff out of the car door when Sandy had opened it for him and then Sandy picked him up and swung him around, pressing a kiss to his head before he placed him back on solid ground.
Seth collected his belongings and they made their way to the gate, where a lot of first-time parents and their offspring were. Sandy noted that the parents were mostly mothers, and to his distaste, he spotted Julie Cooper. It looked like she was telling Marissa off for something, probably for being upset on her first day of school, he surmised. There was something so despicable about that woman, he thought, she just seemed so pissed off all the time. Her nostrils flared and her red hair flew around her, making Sandy think if she were an animal, she'd be a dragon.
A sharp tug on his sleeve helped recall the mission at hand and he took Seth's hand to go and find his teacher.
There's was a sign in the playground that read "1st graders over here' in bright red writing. There was a young woman standing by it, bearing a nametag. She was short and curvy with honey blonde hair, pale skin, a pretty smile and dark olive green eyes that sparkled and shone as she met her class for the year and their parents.
Seth and Sandy got closer, so Sandy was able to read her nametag, which said she was Miss Jones.
She noticed them walk over and remembered seeing the picture Seth's mother had shown her when she'd met her at the school meeting for new parents. The man who was with him could only be his father, she decided, as they both had dark curly hair, an impish look in their eyes and were wearing the same sort of adorably crumpled look.
Sandy reached out to shake her hand as he approached with Seth.
"Hi, Sandy Cohen," he intoned amicably.
"And I'm Seth! seth Ezekiel Cohen, to be precise! I love reading, especially comics! My best comic is Spiderman, 'cause Spiderman can jump really high with his web stuff, and he helps people lots... But he has to live with his aunt and uncle, I don't think I'd like to live with my Auntie Sarah or my Uncle Samuel..." Seth declared in the same friendly tone his father had just used.
"Setheleh, shhhh," Sandy interrupted firmly but lovingly.
"You don't want miss Jones to find out all your secrets on your first day, do you?" he questioned Seth, who, after a moment's thought, nodded in agreement.
"Seth, why don't you go and find your peg in the classroom, you can leave your bag and lunchbox there... Summer, take Seth to the classroom please, show him where everything goes, will you." said Miss Jones, directing the first part at Seth and the second to a little girl who'd gone rushing past in a blur of dark hair. She stopped, looked at Miss Jones and agreed to do as she'd been asked.
This was followed by a huge "Ewwww!" and the voicing of her feelings that she had to take a BOY to the classroom. She raced off, leaving Seth to follow after her in approximately the direction she'd gone, after an encouraging pat from Sandy.
"Sorry about the constant stream of chatter Seth spouts," Sandy declared apologetically,"he gets it from me, you see, I'm a lawyer anfd he's an only child too, which means he'll talk to anything-he had a long conversation with a lamp post the other day... And he has a toy horse called Captain Oats, just so you don't worry when you hear about him, which I promise you you will. If you find his "off" button, let me know, it could be useful! Oh, and I've just proved my son's inherited my ability to talk too much, sorry!" he added sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it, he seems like a great kid! Anyone who can talk and read well is a pleasure to have in my classroom, especially one who has a vivid imagination." Miss Jones replied, beaming at Sandy.
"Right, I'll hold you to that statement when I see you at the parent-teacher conference, if you've survived that long! Good luck for today!" Sandy declared, shaking hands with his son's teacher again.
He was suddenly jumped upon by a hurricane of dark hair and incomprehensible chatter.
He picked his son up, gave him a kiss and felt Seth's warm lips go to his cheek. He gave him a big squeeze, made him promise he'd be good, put him down and waved before heading off. Seth waved back, faltering for a half a second before going to say hello to a group of children nearby.
As Sandy was nearly at the gate, he saw Julie drag Marissa past, give her a kiss on the cheek that seemed more perfunctory than loving and then left as fast as she could, ignoring Marissa's cries for her.
The bell rang and Marissa scampered off to get in line with the rest of her class mates.
He spotted Seth, who seemed quite happy and relaxed-he seemed to be laughing at something someone had said.
His heart plumetted as he got to the gate, he didn't realise how hard Seth being at school would hit him. Well, it's only six hours he told himself as he headed to the car.
