3. Hot for Teacher

Michonne hummed to herself as she chopped romaine for her lunch the next day at work. Allegory yowled a her feet hoping for a bite of something to eat.

"You don't even like salad so stop begging." Michonne scolded. She rinsed the romaine off in the sink and began slicing up a tomato to add to the salad. Allegory was still unconvinced that Michonne wasn't making something for her and began circling around her ankle. "All right you little stinker I give in you can have a treat." She conceded unable to ignore her very vocal Siamese.

Michonne was looking in the pantry of the cat treats when her doorbell rang. "Who is it?" Michonne called out as she made her way to the front door.

"Officer Rick Grimes, I'm here making a welfare check."

Michonne stood on her tiptoes and looked through the peep hole you could never be too safe. When she saw Rick's face she smiled and opened her door.

Michonne stepped back from the doorway. "Come in."

"Everything OK?"

" So far yes."

" Good. You've a nice place." Rick said looking around. "Very nice house, craftsman?"

"Yes my grandfather build this house from blueprints he got out of the sears catalog. Can I get you anything?"

"Coffee if it wouldn't be too much trouble."

"None at all, how do you take it?"

"One cream three sugars."

"Follow me."

"Who's this pretty kitty?" Rick asked bending down to pet her cat who'd come into the living room to check him out.

"That's Allegory, Alley for short."

Rick smiled. "Allegory I like it."

Michonne busied herself making the coffee and then got down a plate and arranged some Pepperidge farm Milano cookies on it. She took it all to the table and Rick followed her.

"I've been thinking about how you said that I should talk to someone, and I was wondering if I could talk to you, not like a therapist or anything. I just have a few questions about my son that I thought that you could answer."

"Of course."

"Does Carl seem happy in school? Does he get along with his friends?" Rick asked her. "I know these are questions I probably should know the answers to, but I can't get him to open up to me."

"As far as I can tell Carl is coping and his friends are good kids, but coping isn't the same as being happy and I really do think you should see someone a professional someone."

"I know, I know but it's hard, when it comes to opening up Carl is just as stubborn as I am."

"You're opening up to me and you don't know me very well."

"You've got this connection with my son so it's different. I think he'd be worse off if it weren't for you. Carl was close with his mother and now that she's gone he's just shut down"

Michonne put her hand on Rick's. "I'm so sorry about your wife. Carl showed me a picture of her she was a lovely woman."

Rick smiled. "She was and I took her for granted. I took everything I used to have for granted."

"You can't keep beating yourself up or thinking what if. You'll never be able to move forward if you don't and that's not healthy for you or your children."

"I'm sorry." Rick said suddenly. "I keep forgetting you've been through a trauma yourself you're right I shouldn't be burdening you with all my problems I should see a therapist."

Michonne finished her coffee and offered Rick the last cookie which he took. "I don't mind talking to you, but I'm not a professional so I don't know how much real help I can offer you."

"You've been more help than you know." Rick said standing up. He collected the dishes, took them over to the sink, washed them up and then put them on the draining board

"Thanks for checking on me."

" You're welcome. I should be going now." He put his hat back on and Michonne walked him to the front door. Rick pulled out his wallet and fished out a business card. "Here's a card with my direct line on it if you do run into any trouble promise you'll call me and I'll be here right away."

"I promise if you promise me you'll talk to your son maybe even take him and Judith out somewhere."

"Cross my heart ."

When Rick had gone Michonne locked her front door and leaned up against it. "What have I gotten myself into Alley?"

2

Rick decided that he was going to follow some of Michonne's advice. He was going to get his son to open up to him or die trying. He had some time off work he decided he was going to reconnect with his children. Today he was taking Judith to the park for a picnic lunch and hopefully he could get Carl to go with them.

"Ready to feed the ducks Jude?" He asked his daughter as he tossed her into the air then caught her.

Judith squealed with delight feeding the ducks was one of her favorite activities.

Carl was in his room playing one of his video games. Rick knocked on his door and a few moments later it opened. "I'm taking Jude to the park to feed the ducks want to come with?"

"OK."

"All right then." Rick smiled feeling like for once things were finally going right.

"Don't forget Jude's toy boats you know how loud she can scream."

"I didn't forget and I packed lunch too."

After Carl had changed he help load everything up into their Durango. It was a perfect day out low humidity but with lots of sun and not a cloud in the sky. Possum Holler Park was packed with families who decided to take in the wonderful weather as well. Rick parked the Durango and as soon as he stepped foot into the parking lot Judith began wriggling to get out of Rick's arm.

"I'll take her to the pond while you set up." Carl offered noticing how anxious his little sister was to see the ducks. Rick handed him a loaf of bread and the two headed off to the pond as quick as Judith's little legs would carry her.

Rick had almost forgotten how much simple things mattered like spending time together. All three of them needed to be out of the house and away from the bad memories that lingered there like a ghost. Often he had thought of moving away but he had Carl to think about, and moving him away from his school and all his friends would probably do more harm than good at this point.

He spread out the blanket and unpacked the picnic hamper. As he watched Carl and Judith feeding the ducks he had the strong belief that he could finally begin to put his family back together. Lori's suicide had torn him asunder making him feel as if he didn't have the right to be happy ever again, and his feelings of guilt were being manifested in his children making them all unhappy.

"Hey dad look who's here!" Carl cried out from across the park.

Rick looked up to see Carl coming back with Ms. Mitchell in tow. She was wearing a spandex outfit so she must have been running. Rick tried not to stare but it was hard when so much toned skin was showing.

"Aah hi." Rick stood up and held out his hand for her to shake feeling foolish as soon as he did. Michonne didn't take his hand she just smiled.

"Have lunch with us." Carl said. "We have more than enough food."

"Oh I wouldn't want to spoil you're family outing."

"No it's OK isn't it dad."

"Sure at least have a bottle of water." He opened the cooler and handed her one.

"Thanks." She opened the bottle of water and drank it down as if she'd been wandering the desert for days.

Rick watched with a sort of hypnotized fascination until he saw that Carl was watching him watch her quickly he pulled his eyes away.

His son smirked at him and patted the space between him and his sister. "Sit down Ms. Mitchell."

She sat and so did Rick.

"Look my toys" Judith said holding up one of her plastic zoo animals.

"What a cute elephant."

"We play." Judith said and handed Michonne a tiger.

Rick watched the two of them fondly Judith normally wasn't comfortable with strangers, but he realized that since he and Carl were at ease with her so was Jude. Michonne made animal noises for each of the animals that Jude handed her and said their names.

"Rawr, tiger."

"She likes you Ms. Mitchell" Carl said.

"I like her too, Michonne said, she such a little cutie."

Michonne stayed and had lunch with them and Carl and Judith monopolized most of her time. When the picnic was over she helped them clean up.

"Thanks for staying for lunch it meant a lot to my children."

"I'm just glad to see the three of you getting out and about."

"Well some very smart lady told me I should."

"Da-ad Jude wet herself."

Rick flustered and covered his face with his hands. "I swear She's potty trained, mostly potty trained."

"Rome wasn't built in a day"

"I didn't bring any extra pull-ups so I should probably get going."

"I'll see you in class tomorrow Carl, and the next time I see you Mr. Grimes hopefully it will be at at parent teacher conference."

Rick watched Michonne go enjoying the way she looked from behind. He watched her walk until he couldn't see her anymore.

"She's really nice isn't she dad?" Carl asked at his side suddenly making him jump.

"Yes she is."

"Jude likes her too."

"Yeah she does."

"What about you dad? Do you like Ms. Mitchell?"

Rick stared at Carl wondering what his son was really asking him.

3

Carl took his time gathering up his books after English class so that he could wait until all the other students had left to talk to Ms. Mitchell. He watched her for a few seconds as she wiped off the whiteboard before making his approach.

"Ms. Mitchell."

"Yes?"

He felt his face turning red and he wished he did not have the annoying habit of blushing every time he felt uncomfortable which was just about every second of his life. "I er I wrote something, a story, and I was wondering if you could tell me what you thought about it. I mean since you teach English and everything. Not that you have to or anything I know you're busy. Oh how he wish he could stop rambling.

"Carl, Ms. Mitchell said, I'd be honored to read your story."

When Carl's dad had asked him what he wrote about the other day he had wanted to tell him, but he was too embarrassed. His story was about a police officer that died in the line of duty and came back as a ghost who haunted murders until they confessed. He wasn't sure how his dad would take it especially since he'd partially based his protagonist off of his father.

Ms. Mitchell sat behind her desk and began reading his story. Carl stood there with bated breath waiting. Why had he given her his paper? She would probably hate it. Up until now he had convinced himself that he could actually write and now he was convinced he was the worst writer in the world. He wanted to run from the room he had never shown anyone his writing, not even his friends, and now he was showing it to a teacher she would probably laugh at him. She would probably tell him that he should never write anything again.

"I'm impressed, for someone so young you seem to have quite an understanding of the inner workings of an adult mind."

"So you don't think it sucks?"

"No Carl I don't think it sucks you have a way with words and that's something that can't be taught."

"Really!"

"Yes really."

"You're not just saying that?"

"Carl do I seem like the type to just say things?"

"No."

"I was going to write more but I didn't know if was any good."

"Your story needs work but you should continue to write. There's a youth writing camp in Atlanta this year maybe you could talk to your father about attending."

"That sounds kind of cool I'll talk to my dad." Carl said taking his story back. "Oh did my dad stop by?"

"What!" Ms. Mitchell's head snapped up and her mouth dropped open.

"My dad said he was going to stop by your house to make a welfare check."

"Oh, yes he stopped by briefly."

Carl stared at Michonne and wondered why she seem so flustered. Was it because she liked his dad? Carl was pretty sure that his dad, as his uncle Jeffrey would say, was warm for Ms. Mitchell's form. He had seen his dad at the park checking his teacher out which he found gross and amusing at the same time. Sunday Ms. Mitchell had come by their house to drop off some books she'd brought as a present for Judith, and his dad had invited Ms. Mitchell in for coffee. Carl had heard the two of them in the kitchen and when his dad spoke he actually sounded happy and he was laughing. He could not remember the last time he had heard the sound of his father's laughter.

The ideal of his dad dating still made Carl feel a bit uncomfortable, but if his dad did start dating again he wouldn't mind it if it was Ms. Mitchell. It had been two years since his mom had died and in those two years his dad had not showed interest in any woman. Plenty of women from their church had tried to become the next Mrs. Grimes. Some of the women who tried were the very same women who had talked about his mother being unfit. Carl had disliked every single one of them. He had hated how they dropped by the house with out being invited and feinted interest in him, all the while talking about how they could take much better care of Judith than his mom had. They acted as if his dad was a prize at a raffle and they were holding the winning ticket.

Ms. Mitchell had never said anything about his mom even though Carl knew she had heard all the rumors about her. When he had shown her a picture of his mom she told him that his mother was beautiful and he knew she did not think his mom was going to hell for what she had done.

No one could ever replace his mother and he knew his dad would never forget his mom either, but she would want them to be happy and Ms. Mitchell made them all happy. Without Ms. Mitchell around his dad would probably go back to being depressed. Judith would go back to being quiet and he would go back to being ignored, and he couldn't go back to living that way not when they had the chance to finally be happy again.

"Ms. Mitchell." Carl said struck with a sudden ideal. "Do you think you could talk to my dad about that writing camp?"

"Sure."

"Like maybe tonight my dad doesn't have to work and he made lasagna for dinner it's really good."

Ms. Mitchell gave Carl a skeptical stare as if she knew exactly what it was he was up to.

"Please, if you talked to him I know he'd say yes about that writing camp, and you could have your conference at the same time."

"Don't you think you should ask your father if all of this is OK first?"

"He won't mind and Jude will be really happy to see you again."

That did it. Carl knew if he mentioned his sister there'd be no way she could say no, but she made him call his father first so that she could talk to him. His father agreed like he knew that he would proving to Carl that his dad did in fact like his teacher.

When Carl got home from school he noticed that his dad had shaved and put on one of his nicer shirts. The whole house had been cleaned up and the table was set. Usually the kitchen table was covered with old newspapers, library books and mail but today it'd been polished and their nice dishes sat atop it.

"Smells good in here." Carl noted.

"I just want to make a good impression on your teacher."

"I'll bet you do." Carl said under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

His father gave him the same skeptical look Ms. Mitchell had, as if he too was exactly sure what Carl was up to.

If his father and Ms. Mitchell knew what he was up to, and they went ahead with his plans anyway, that only meant one thing to Carl. That they wanted this date to happen as much as he did.