LITMIR.BIZ

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of wheat,” she countered.

      He got up from bed and did a slow-dragging walk to the bathroom. “Corn Pops.”

      “Umm…no…Oatmeal or cream of wheat?

      He gave a resigned sigh. “Cream of wheat.”

      “Okay, get washed up and dressed. We need to be out the door before seven-thirty. I’m taking my morning class on a trip to the fire station today and I need to get to school a little early in order to handle some paperwork. Paperwork that needs to be turned in to Principal Gibson today. So stop dragging those little feet and let’s get rolling.”

      He groaned again and half dragged on down the hall. She couldn’t help but chuckle. He reminded her so much of herself when she was a kid. She’d never liked getting up in the morning for school and always tried to negotiate with her mother for an extra five minutes. In fact, if she didn’t have to get both herself and Dillon ready, she would have hit the snooze button a few times and would just be crawling out of bed herself.

      When she got the cream of wheat going she took a trip back down the hall and saw that Dillon had made it to the living room and was watching morning cartoons while he put on his clothing. Really, he was staring at the screen and punctuating the long stretches of viewing by placing one item of clothing on his body at a time. At the rate he was going, he’d be dressed by the time the afternoon talk shows came on.

      She walked over and turned off the television. “This is why you don’t have a television in your bedroom, Dillon. And what did I tell you about coming in here and turning on the television before you get dressed? If you got up on time and got dressed quickly, you’d have a couple of minutes to catch some cartoons before it was time to go.”

      “Aw-ww…Mo-m…”

      “Don’t aww mom me. Hurry up before your breakfast gets cold.”

      Dillon moved considerably faster without the distraction of the television and soon he was fed and they were out the door, in the car and on their way.

      “I have the coolest idea, Mom.” Dillon literally bounced with excitement in the passenger seat.

      “Really, I can’t wait to hear it. What’s your cool idea?”

      “You can write my teacher a note and take me to the fire station with your class today. That would be so cool. I’ve never been to a real fire station. I wonder if they’d let me slide down the pole?”

      “I can tell you the answer to that. They wouldn’t because you won’t be going to the fire station. You can’t miss class to go on someone else’s trip. And you wouldn’t want to hang out with my little darling kindergartners.”

      Dillon got a pensive expression on his face as if he was considering the merits of getting out of school versus spending the morning with kindergartners. He frowned. “Well, it seemed like it might have been a cool idea. But now that I think about it…”

      “Mmm-hmm…” She pulled into the parking lot. Before getting out she leaned over and offered her cheek to her son. He had reached the age where any public displays of affection from Mom would embarrass him to no end. So she always made sure to get her sugar before they got out of the car.

      Dillon offered only one “Awww, Mom” before giving her a quick peck on the cheek and dashing out of the car to the school building.

      She got out, grabbed her bags and supplies and followed closely behind. “And you stop that running once you get in the building. You don’t want Principal Gibson to give you detention.”

      “Okay, Mom.” Dillon slowed his pace when he reached the big blue doors of Public School #21. He pulled the door open and held it for her as she walked in.

      “Thank you, sweetie.”

      “M-ooo-m. No ‘sweetie’ in school—somebody might hear you.”

      She laughed. “Keep it up and I’m going to give to give you a big hug in front of all your friends.”

      She watched her son walk up to the second floor of the building for his before-school math tutoring. Ms. McCloud was kind enough to see him before school to help him with his math.

      The building was still somewhat quiet. But soon it would be bustling with the sounds of children learning and playing. PS #21 was a kindergarten through eighth grade elementary school in the heart of Paterson, New Jersey, on Tenth Avenue. She’d been lucky to get a job teaching in the same school district in which she lived, at the school closest to her home and the one her son attended. Dillon probably didn’t think so, but it worked for her.

      Once she’d finished her paperwork and returned from the principal’s office, her teacher’s assistant, Toni, had arrived.

      Aisha smiled. “Well, well, look who’s on time today.”

      Toni grinned and waved her off. “Girl, please, of course I’m on time today. I can’t wait to take these little rug rats to the fire station. My future husband might be waiting for me as we speak. I can’t keep my hunky fireman husband-to-be waiting. How do I look?” Toni did a little spin and showed off her latest trendy outfit. The bold splash of orange and purple in the blouse refused to be outdone by the orange skirt, dark plum tights and purple patent-leather boots. But with Toni’s wild personality the outfit worked.

      Aisha knew she could never pull off something like that—not that she would have any desire to. Just give her a pair of neutral slacks and a nice sweater twinset any day. Maybe some gold jewelry.

      “You look…nice…” Aisha started. Toni really did look nice—not Aisha’s personal taste, but nice nonetheless.

      Toni cut her eyes. “You don’t like the outfit. I can tell. But my future fireman husband is going to be all on it. You watch and see. Plus, everyone can’t pull off prissy-priss-chic like you. Some of us need flair.”

      “Prissy-priss?” Aisha feigned indignation. “That’s Ms. Priss, thank you very much. I can’t help it if I’m a little more reserved….”

      “Ummm…Reserved isn’t going to snag you one of those hot firemen. You’ll see. Watch me work it, girl.” Toni did a little spin and shook her head so that the blunt edges of her stylish haircut moved with sassy precision.

      Aisha just laughed. She wasn’t looking for a hot, sexy fireman as a future husband, boyfriend or anything else. The only man she had time for in her life was ten years old and upstairs being tutored in math. Being Dillon’s mom and being the best kindergarten teacher she could be was more than enough for her.

      One by one the students started showing up, and soon she had an entire classroom full of kiddies. After a brief morning lesson, they’d take the six-block walk to Fire Station No. 5 and get a tour and a lesson in fire safety.

      Aisha grinned in anticipation. She liked taking class trips almost as much as the kids did. She couldn’t wait.

      Patrick Hightower eyed his squad as they lined up in the apparatus room for roll call. Of the five men on duty on any given shift, his position as fire captain never changed.

      He was the officer in charge.

      He took note of his men. All of them were present and accounted for, uniformed and ready to roll at the sound of an alarm. Reggie Smith, the rookie, was there and Patrick had a special assignment for him today. They had a group of kindergartners coming through later, and the rookie could give them a tour.

      “Jones, you’re the driver today.” Patrick went down his list. “Carter, you’re position three. Stone, you’re position four. And Smith, you’re position five, waterman and general helper.”

      “No big surprise there,” Reggie grumbled.

      “Awww…the rookie’s getting tired of playing his position.” Lennie Stone playfully ribbed Reggie.

      The other men laughed, and Patrick was tempted to join them. But he had one more surprise for the rookie.

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