Found At Last

Chapter 1

“Come on, Come On” Elaine chanted in her head as she stared at the clock in her office as the minute hand inched towards 5 o’clock. In a few minutes she could leave and get back to her usual night time routine of reading a cheesy romance novel with a glass of wine in hand in a bubble bath.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Elaine Beneventi was supposed to love her job. No, she did love her job, being Professor was her dream job, and being a professor of International Relations and Diplomacy at her alma master was her dream come true. But lately the student assignment, haughty students who thought they were better than everyone else, the self-important colleagues, made her dream job a nightmare at times

Today was especially a rough day with the department head coming down on her head about mentoring the foreign exchange students, “I mean give me a break”, she muttered, as she stabbed her pen, Just because her dad was Iranian, she’d be able to “relate to them better”. The Arrogant, racist, jerk.

It definitely didn’t help that her students wouldn’t concentrate, and wanted to keep flirting with her. She was their professor, god damn it, she deserved some respect, didn’t she?

Her train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door, Elaine looked at the clock, her train of thought had lasted longer than she anticipated, still the reason she was good at her job was that she wouldn’t and couldn’t say no. Reluctantly, she cleaned up the mess she made during her rampage, and said, “Come in”.

The young girl that entered was one of her Undergraduate students, “What can I help you with, Ms Lawrence?” El asked, fixing a professional smile on her face. “Ma’am, I’m sorry to bother you this late, but I was wondering why I got a B on the last group assignment? she asked, with a grim look on her face.

“Well, Ms Lawrence, it was the grade that I believed that you deserved, what exactly is your problem with grade? “. El asked mirroring Great Lawrence’s grim look while she crossed her hands in front of her. “I believe my presentation was the best out of the lot,” she retorted, raising her chin. “and it’s quite unfair for you grade me so low.”

“Well, Ms Lawrence, last time I checked I was your professor” El said, rising from her chair “ and that gives me the right to grade you as I deem fit according to your performance, secondly you mentioned that it was your presentation when I had clearly mentioned it was a group project, clearly confirming my suspicions, and it has a clear weakness in your character of your incapability to work in a team and this was a collective decision to make sure you understand the importance of team work”, Greta put her head down and El knew that she had hit the nail on the head. “So, I’d appreciate if you do not come in to my office, after hours with irrelevant issues” El finished her rant picked up her things, getting ready to leave.

“I’m sorry, Professor Beneventi”, Greta mumbled, as she shuffled out of the office leaving El fuming and with a killer headache. Might as well get on home and relax or at least try to. Maybe this is why she was starting to hate dream job, the constant guilt she felt after bursting out at a student, or the constant arguments with the administration to provide more facilities.

Very few of the University staff took her seriously when she came back from England after getting her Doctorate at 25. So, she took matters to her own hand and toughened went head to head with anyone who doubted her and built reputation for being the young no-nonsense professor, when inside she was so much an insecure woman with a bunch of letters after her name. Maybe it was taking a toll on her.

As Elaine, reached her car, she looked back at her workplace, John Hopkins University. This is where she belonged, even more than her own home, this is where she found her live’s purpose, to pursue Academia and do as much as she could to help the country, she was born in.” Then why the hell did I not feel belonged I it anymore?” she thought to herself. Sighing she figured it’s better that she didn’t go down that existential blackhole for the third time today, but she never stopped to think why she’d been feeling so lost so often.

As she got in to her car and started driving home, her chocolate eye’s narrowed on the road, as she realised that she had never been this angry, truth be told, she had been angry for a long time, she shrugged, but she hadn’t been happy with herself or most of the decisions for a several months now.

It didn’t matter that she was the youngest professor in the University, it didn’t matter that she had received tenure just month ago, it certainly didn’t matter that most of her is published and received high commendation, she felt as if she fell short, and most things she accomplished weren’t really her accomplishments.

She swerved hard to the left, as a bright pickup truck barrelled towards her, and heard the inevitable and entirely too common, “Go back to where you came from” from the driver. “Great, another thing to upset me today”, she mumbled to herself as she recovered and headed her way home.

No point letting these negative thoughts fetter in her mind, she thought as she entered the drive way to her small two-bedroom house, that had been an impulsive buy, that surprised her as much as anybody. But in these tumult times it felt like her house was the only haven to her emotional upheavals. She smiled as she grabbed her bag and unmarked student assignments, her caramel face lighting for the time since she left home that morning. “Guys, I’m home” she said, as she opened her door, the loves her life came racing towards her with his tongue lolling. And his brown eyes gleaming, “Hey buddy, hey Nora” she said as she got on her knees, and petted the golden Labradors, “Did you miss me ? , were you good to Kelly ?” she asked referring to her neighbour she payed to look after Buddy and Nora, on certain days.

“Come on, lets get some dinner” she stood and walked to the kitchen with dogs trailing behind. Soon enough all three of them were settled with dinner, the pups with their kibble and El with one of her frozen dinners, while marking her papers.

She was interrupted by Dolly Parton’s nine to five, her phone displayed her mother calling, “Hey, mama”, El said barely concentrating on what she was saying, “Mi Amor, you haven’t been answering my calls”, her mother’s voice with a hint of her Italian roots replied ,“it’s almost been 2 months since we had a real conversation ”

“I know, Mama”, El, said as she raised her head, the guilt was starting to eat at her, for the millionth time, “I’ve been so busy, I haven’t really been able to…”, “Been able to what, “Ines interrupted, impatiently, “talk to your mama ?,”

“Mama……. I’m sorry” El said, defeated laying her head on the table. Ines Beneventi, may have not seen her eldest daughter in almost a year, but she could still recognize when her baby was hurting, enough to for her to forget her own her hurt.

“What’s wrong, with my El ?”, She asked gently, when Elaine answered with a whimper, she knew her child was not just hurting but almost broken, “El, you have been working so hard, for almost a year, why don’t you take a few days off, come back home, spend some time with family”.

“Mama, I swear I would love nothing more than to come home”, those empty words that she’d repeated so many times, rang true for the first time. “But I have responsibilities here, and Buddy and Nora……..”

“Il Mio Amor, you know truly that we would love to have them too, your brothers and sisters can’t wait to meet them”, Ines’s voice hit a bit desperate, she could hear the longing her daughters voice, she wished she could hug her baby, “Mama, I have to go, give my love to Papa and the other, Ti amo, Mama, I have to go”El said as she hung up.

Ines turned to her husband, with her phone in hand, “Something’s wrong with my Eliie, Mio amor, she’s hurting” Gabriel Beneventi noted the worried look on his wife’s face and answered with one of his famous easy smiles , “She’s an Independent girl, you raised her to be one, trust her “

El’s guilt had raised to unprecedented levels, by the time she had hung up on her mother, and she couldn’t bear to mark her papers or do anything work related at all. “Screw it,” she said, rousing her sleeping dogs, as she stood up from her chair and cleaned up.

They followed her as she prepared for her bath and picked up her novel and willed herself to forget all that happened today and decided to relax at least for a night., with her dogs guarding her as she slipped in to the tub and in to the fantasy world of her novel and forget the pains of reality