My Seoul Man

Chapter 12

The special "All hell's breaking loose somewhere" siren ringtone went off at about 4 a.m. but I was so dead to the world I didn't even hear it.

I initially chose that sound because it was so piercing and annoying that I believed it would rouse me at once if Mama Sadie had fallen down or felt sick or was having any kind of emergency. Or if something heinous was happening at work.

But my body had shut down after being pushed way beyond everyday tired, so it took a long time to feel that nagging squeal going off over and over again right next to me on the side table.

But I finally flopped a limp hand over on top of my cell and slid it over onto the bed while my mind was coming back from the depths. And when I was finally conscious enough to open my eyes and manipulate the thing, I saw the MAYDAY text bubble which we'd been told never to use unless there was a shooter in one of the buildings.

So I got a jolt of adrenaline strong enough to sit me up in bed and use a shaky finger to tap the link to a .pdf memo that read:

"All staff please report to the Whitman High auditorium at once.

Over half of the teaching staff has called in sick. We will be asking certified staff to cover today's classes. Non-certified staff will be called upon to run the district office until further notice."

After blurting out a knee-jerk, "What the actual fuck?" I did a little Catholic sign of the cross thing, knowing just how blessed I was to be non-certified and therefore saved from being thrown to the lions—y'all know what you did to substitute teachers. Don't even try to front.

And a lot of the people who were going to be in the trenches that day hadn't been in a classroom since they graduated from high school. Don't even get me started talking about what the administrators who'd suspended or otherwise disciplined some of these kids for years were going to go through.

I managed to sling my legs over the side of the bed and force myself up on my feet some kind of way, thanking God that I had all kinds of food from the weekend gathering that I could throw into some Sistema containers right quick because the other district admins probably hadn't thought of meals at all.

I sent out an "EMP" message to my food service staff right quick, too. I'd created a whole "emergency meal prep" process that could get enough bag lunches prepared for all the kids in both schools pretty quick. But normally there would've been non-certified staff there to jump in so I wasn't sure how well it would work under these circumstances...

I also grabbed two big boxes full of packaged storebought pastries—another gift from the gathering. Set them right by the door with my personal stash to take along for all the grumpy people who'd be filing into that auditorium with their stomachs growling.

And just as I was trudging into the bathroom to get my groggy ass showered and dressed for battle, AJ's pretty face popped into my mind which got me all lathered up in a different way. Normally I would've handled those feelings with my handheld shower head—don't judge me, dammit. I kept my priorities straight, okay?

So, I drove off a little while later bobbing my head to my girl Jill Scott singin' "Is it the waaaaaay, you looooove me baybay..." Leaning all into the feels I was feelin' that morning despite the dire circumstances that had me on the road at 4:45 a.m. when all I wanted to do was fantasize about waking up next to Bae-J someday soon...

But when I got to the district offices there was this big old mob of locals—new and native—screaming back and forth at each other while a couple of the dudes from the Custodial department tried to help Security keep them separated.

I drove past that little skirmish to my old portable. Squinting to try and see if there were any stray bodies out that way. But they must've known none of the real decision makers were way out there, so the coast was clear.