Logistics

Tony, seated beside Ethan during the fourth grade spiel, picked up on Ethan's covert glances into the main hall where rows of intimidating lockers stood mounted to the walls.

Once the teachers dismissed the group he beckoned Ava and Levi to follow, but placed his hand on Ethan's shoulder and steered him to the banks of metal lockers.

Surprisingly, Ethan left the strong hand there and cocked his head expectantly when they came to a standstill.

Tony bent down and whispered conspiratorially, "I just wanted to share a story with you pulled from my own schooldays concerning the first time I ever encountered a locker. It worried me so badly ahead of time that I would try to work the combination and it would fail in front of all the other kids that I ended up begging my dad and abuela not to even send me to school the day they assigned them."

That tidbit grabbed the boy's interest and he pivoted to face Tony, worried interest apparent on his face. "Did they make you go?"

"Uh huh," he confirmed, puffing out his lip in a pout. "But they redeemed themselves by imparting the exact wisdom I am going to impart to you now."

"Which is?" Ethan prodded, nervously brushing his bangs from his face.

Tony enunciated each word dramatically. "The golden nugget of wisdom relayed was that every single fourth grader will pray just as hard as you do that he or she can get lockers open when the time comes to do so. They said I would be in good company."

"Well, did it happen that way?" Ethan bit the side of his lip. "Did that happen with the kids and the lockers the way they said?"

"Absolutely, and get this- it took my entire class half a morning to learn the combinations and tricks to get in, and the teachers just walked up and down the hall coaching and encouraging us. So no one mastered the skill before anyone else did, and all of us saved face. All the worry had been wasted, and we had worked on lockers so long that we missed social studies that morning."

Ethan grinned shyly at him, his eyes trusting, "Ok, but is that the truth?"

Tony slammed his right hand over his heart and smiled. "You have my word. I can not tell a locker lie."

Levi yanked them back to current demands. "Daddy, remember you said we could go to the office and talk to the secretary lady and check about the buses so that one day we can ride one."

"True," Tony confirmed, "however let me reiterate that as it stands now, you three are car riders and will be picked up each day by either Miss Talia or me."

"Daddy, we are going to revisit the subject, though," Ava reminded him, parroting Tony's own rhetoric. "We have to revisit it so that you can say ok, we can ride the schoolbus sometimes."

"It's okay to do that for a while, be car riders, I mean, but riding the bus is fun because we get to sit with our friends," Ethan added.

Tony shook his head and muttered helplessly. "It really bewilders me how you three imagine a ten minute bus ride can offer all this social interaction. We live right down the street from the school so the kids will mostly live in the neighborhood."

"Still, you promised to check," Levi pouted, accentuating his dimple. "Remember you said…"

"All right, I am a man of my word. Let's take care of researching the bus schedule and the school calendar when we go to the office. After that little trip, we'll stuff ourselves with a celebratory lunch before we rejoin Elijah and Vivienne at home."

All four compared their individual and collective observations of the elementary school as they capped the school orientation with a leisurely lunch and fat ice cream cones for dessert.

Ava's chocolate treat began to topple and she called out for help. Grabbing the cone and repositioning the ice cream with a finger, Tony handed it back to her with orders, "Try to lick the ice cream faster, Ava. It's melting all over everywhere. Pretend you're a kitty cat."

Ava purred loudly and then grinned, her lips outlined in chocolate, and everyone laughed.

Tony regarded his little brood as they talked over and with each other, trying to share all of the sights and sounds communally gained from their soon-to-be school building. Leaning back against the seat's cushion, his green eyes softened as he relaxed and witnessed their interplay. Though they dissolved into squabbles on a daily basis, forcing him to mediate or intervene in the majority of them, he could hope that the current lunchtime camaraderie reflected a positive link and bonding among them.

Immersed in savoring the moment, a sudden cough at his elbow startled him. A twenty something couple regarded him appreciatively.

The husband pursed his lips. "Don't mean to intrude, Man, but my wife and I have been going back and forth about having kids for the last few months…."

"Longer than that," interrupted the wife, scowling at her spouse, " but the deal is, one big obstacle for both of us was we said we'll never be able to go out in public and enjoy it if we have kids."

Continuing the logic, the husband clarified, "Yet we saw y'all enter and sit down, and we have watched how your kids behave in public. Maybe it can be done."

"Not be afraid to haul the little rug rats to public places," the wife announced in conclusion, then bestowed genuine smiles upon each rapt little face. "Yours have such good manners."

Tony turned to regard his pretend progeny in surprise and found the children frozen in place, regarding the visitors with expressions akin to watching a friend begin to tumble from the monkey bars. Evidently the assessment had zapped them as deeply as it had him.

"Thank you," he responded, "and yes, I am proud of them."

Climbing into the driver's seat a few minutes later, he waited patiently as doors shut and seat belts buckled behind him. Before he could engage the ignition, demanding voices clamored to tour the Navy School's beautiful campus and the Daddy's office away from home. Why couldn't they see where the Daddy would be when he got to see where they would be?

Unable to conjure a reasonable argument to deny the request, Tony agreed, steering the family's vehicle down streets lined with magnolias and oaks and into the campus of the Navy School proper.

Serving as guide, Tony pointed out the building which housed his future office, as well as the classrooms where he would teach before returning to the house each afternoon. He and the Commandant had met for coffee the day before and he had been given his course assignments and student rolls. Tony would teach one class devoted to basic law enforcement skills, and another over the history of law enforcement. Though nervous at the thought of really teaching, both excited him, and he actually anticipated the experience.

At the urging of Levi, he parked and allowed the kids to follow him to his office.

Spying the family led by his most recent faculty member, the Commandant strode down the hall to join them. Tony introduced the children, whose manners surfaced yet again, this time impressing the older man as they had the couple earlier. He slapped Tony on the shoulder and complimented their home training.

The kids insisted upon entering his office, and the Commandant laughed and commanded Tony to show the kids their dad's home away from home.

Unlocking the glass paned door, Tony ushered the children in ahead of him.

Ethan sized up the décor quickly, or right before he swiveled to Tony and pointed out that the furnishings were pretty Spartan. Agreeing, Levi assured him that the daddy most definitely needed pictures of the five of them to put on his desk. Climbing into his swivel office chair, Ava announced the importance of houseplants to make the place nice, so the Daddy would feel at home.

Tony regarded the space in surprise.

The only other time he had entered the room it had seemed fine. If anything, he had privately delighted in the beautiful grounds evident from his window's view. Even now a bright red cardinal skipped below the window sill.

That visit, though, had not included the teamwork of the three oldest, who appeared to communicate through some telepathic means when they felt compelled. Suddenly they jetted en masse around his office, moving books, designing stacks, locating supplies, and creating a working space more in line with that of a career man with home ties.

Later that afternoon Elijah and Vivienne greeted him joyfully, but as they clung to him, he could see that they had bonded well with Talia. Though she would not actually begin full time until the next week, he paid her for a full week and asked her to come in three to four hours per day for the subsequent three days.

The oldest three spent the next hour excitedly sorting through the bounty of their school supplies, some of which he purchased with some forethought, knowing they would need them at later times. Regarding the packs of paper, pencils, erasers, crayons, markers, notebooks, and other school necessities, Tony cleaned out a drawer and a cupboard at the bottom of the den's built in bookcase and insisted they store those items not in demand for the first day.

Wisely, he had purchased color books, modeling clay, puzzles and materials for Vivienne and Elijah so they would not feel slighted.

Once the children satisfied themselves that their first day supply lists were ready, he checked over each list and supervised as Ethan, Levi, and Ava packed their bookbags with the laundry list of items requested by their teachers. Surprisingly, the intensity of feeling that the activity invoked in him rocked him- his emotions teetered from pleasure at witnessing the excitement voiced from the children and stabbing pangs of concern that in one short week they would transition from him for eight plus hours per day.

This, then, must mirror how parents all over the world felt when confronted with entrusting their childrens' futures and safety to schools, to teachers, and to society.