Sweet Caroline

#15 Forbidden fruit

I spend the rest of the weekend taking long walks with my parents, hanging out with Shaughna and doing research on anger in children and temper tantrums. Rose hasn't been doing well lately and I worry about her. Her mom does too, but she mostly blames me, because Rose apparently is a little angel at home. I want to help the poor kid and research helps a bit, although I still feel like I'm missing something.

The rest of the class has warmed to me and Manny and Tommy Thompson even call me their favorite teacher. Of course, they still try get out of doing their work and make weird noises to distract me when I'm trying to explain an assignment. Boys will be boys.

When I get back to work on Monday, I'm actually glad the weekend is over. I absolutely love those kids. It's a treat to see all of them, even little Gracie, whose mother keeps badgering me that I need to give her precious little princess more special attention.

Of course, all goes to hell on Tuesday. It's Rose's week with her mom, so Monday was already filled with stress for her, but Tuesday is when she truly kicks off. I only turn away from the kids for a second to blow my nose, but it's enough for her to hit Tommy in the face, spit in Manny's and take off her dress. She won't let me calm her down and I have to get the headmaster just so he can watch the kids while I continue talking to Rose. For a while, she keeps kicking off, but eventually her tantrum veers into a staring match, which I win.

"What's going on?" I demand to know. "This isn't normal behavior for you, Rose. You're a sweet and compassionate girl. Something is wrong. Tell me."

She sits down on the floor in her underwear, so I sit down too, pulling her to me so we're hugging. She sinks into me and start sobbing.

"Rose, you can tell me," I urge.

"No," she whimpers. "I can't."

"Okay." I stroke her back until she calms down enough for the tears to stop flowing. "Maybe you can't. Is there anything that I can do to help, even if you can't tell me what is wrong?"

She starts shaking her head but stops and looks up at me. "I don't want to wear a dress ever again."

"Why not?"

Her bottom lip quivers. "You said I don't have to tell you."

I want the truth out, but I can tell it's not gonna be today. Maybe if I keep working to gain her trust and talk to her parents about getting those dresses out of her closet, Rose will eventually want to tell me. I know enough about girls her age to know that pushing her won't get me anywhere.

"I'll see what I can do," I promise. "I'll even buy some pants myself if I have to and keep them in the classroom for you."

Rose looks at me with those big green eyes that tug at my heartstrings. "Pinky promise?"

I smile and offer her my pinky. "Promise."

Surprisingly, that is the easy part of my day. Once school is out, I call Rose's mother into my now empty classroom and tell her that I'd like to talk to her and her ex-husband about Rose's tantrums. She assures me that there's no need to do that, but I'm not giving in this time.

"Miss Hail," I say, trying to sound soothing. "I'm calling in Rose's dad. We can have two separate meetings or one with all of us. That's your choice. I am talking to him about this."

So far, Rose's dad hasn't set foot in my classroom yet. He picks her up when it is his week, but since he apparently doesn't feel the need to talk to me like his ex-wife does, I have no clue what he's like. I've actually only met about half the dads, even though I had seen every single mom at least ten times in the two months that I've been working here. Equality and emancipation my ass. There are a lot more stay-at-home moms in this town than there were back home and the moms that do work, all work part-time. Not a lot of career women in this place. Some dads are very much involved, but a lot don't seem to be. I wonder what kind Rose's dad is. At least he's got 50-50 custody, which is more than most divorced parents. Most kids in my class with divorced parents only see their dad in weekends and during school holidays. Then again, her dad never took the time to meet her new teacher, so how involved can he really be?