Touching Shadows

Heathmont High - Staff Lounge

AUDREY

"Terry, have you seen Jemima? She should be here already. Her coffee's getting cold!"

"Not yet Audrey, but when I walked past her room on my way here it sounded like her class was running rampant in there. You know what they're like. So she might need something stronger than coffee".

"Don't we all!"

I plonked myself down on the couch and waited. Sounds like Jem was having a hard second day back in the classroom.

I silently thanked the student allocation gods that I was given the slightly less challenging 3A. Poor Jemima scored 3C. We joked that the 'C' suited the class perfectly, because none of the students were getting higher than a C. Plus sometimes they were a bunch of C....

"Audrey!"

Jemima launched herself onto the couch beside me.

"Thank god it's lunch time! I've been trying to educate a pack of wild animals in there!".

I laughed aloud. Jem had a way with words.

"Remind me why we signed up for this?"

Ah, a question one of us is guaranteed to ask at least one a week. The "this" Jemima was referring to was the job. Not teaching, specifically. But teaching here, at this school.

Jemima and I both work at Heathmont High, a notoriously tough senior school in a poor part of town. Staff burn-out is at record-breaking levels. Student attendance is low, which means that when the kids actually come, they are terribly behind academically. They also come from low socio-economic families, and often their parents didn't finish high school themselves.

It's also not uncommon for police to attend the school campus, sometimes being joined by an ambulance or the fire department. Often it's vandalism related, or occasionally the sports shed is set on fire. Sometimes there is a serious fight that means the police have to break it up and take someone away in cuffs. It's become almost expected that there will be some sort of emergency service vehicle parked out the front of the school on a weekly basis.

Jemima and I signed our teaching contracts on the same day, and since then had become close friends. We needed each other, as we have been each other's support throughout last year's challenges. This was the start of our second year at Heathmont, and my third year of teaching.

I took a deep breath and prepared for my peptalk.

"We do it because no one else will, and you know it, Jem! Even if the kids don't thank us, or show any sort of appreciation or recognition for what we do for them, they at least have someone who has their best interests at heart. Someone who shows up despite their efforts to drive us away!"

Jemima nodded, somewhat unenthusiastically.

"Once again, you're right. I just wish they made it easier sometimes!"

"Amen to that!"

I leaned back and put my feet up on the coffee table, staring at the ceiling and letting out a huge sigh. The clock on the wall counted down our precious minutes left before the afternoon school session began. It was fondly referred to as "Satan's session", because by the time we got to it the kids were tired, the teachers were tired, and we were all very short tempered and slightly feral.