It's barely dawn and I am already sitting in Sam's office. This has become my routine for more than a week during this school holidays. It is the only time we can be together.
I look after Luke and keep him entertained in the afternoons. Sam joins us in the evenings and we spend time with each other as a family. He has to work in the night but he comes to me during his midnight lunch break. He eats and we talk or cuddle together. We sometimes have make out sessions but there is no time for much else. He also has this weird rule about not doing any hanky-panky in my room.
Early morning is also the quietest time in the block. The night visitors have left. The day visitors will come later. The businesses in the area either close down or have a change of shift where the higher number of night time employees are replaced by a skeleton crew of daytime staff. Another advantage for me is that Luke is sleeping snug in his bed at this time with Alice in the second bedroom.
I can cross the bridge without many people being privy to it. Besides by now I have come here so many times that I have stopped being self-conscious about it.
I prefer to work rather than twiddling my thumbs. I have plenty of things to keep me occupied. School reports are due on the first week of the school.
Preparation of school reports is slow going process. I have to be honest but positive about the students. I have hauled all the work my students have done in the first term as well as the notes I have made. I read through each students work and refer to my notes. I try to find sincere, insightful and good things to write about each student. It's a very good exercise for my creative writing skills.
I am sitting on the chair that Sam brought in his office just for me. I am typing on my laptop with reading glasses perched on my nose.
Reading glasses are a recent addition to my wardrobe. Going through all the kindergarten handwriting started to give me headaches. The optometrist could not find anything wrong with my eyes. He advised me not to strain my eyes too much, but reading through Emily's microscopic handwriting is going to strain my eyes.
As usual Sam made many jokes about me complaining headaches when I was with him. The man likes to tease me all the time. He should close down his business and start doing stand up comedy for a living. He jokingly suggested that I should get a reading glasses to look like a schoolmarm.
I took on the suggestion as a counter attack strategy. I went to him dressed in the most prim and proper buttoned down clothes that I could find. I tied my hair in a tight bun and placed the glasses perched on my nose.
He was bowled over by my getup. He literally pounced on me as soon as he saw me. We barely made to the bedroom on that day. The glasses stayed, however all my other props were rejected very soundly.
Unfortunately my prim and proper clothing is in shreds. I know if I wear something similar it will join the rag pile too. I can create the tight bun again with my hair but it won't have the same effect without the clothes. I am not even sure I want to get that reaction from Sam again. Lets just say I want to be able to walk properly during the day.
Sam's reaction aside I have found the glasses to be useful. They do relieve my headache somewhat so it's just not all for the show.
Sam enters in the office and greets me in his usual manner with a brush on my lips. This time is the most awkward for me. We both know why I am here but I keep the pretence of coming here to get some work done. Most times he lets me keep my charade till I am willing to concede the defeat. Few times he becomes impatient and drags me to the bedroom. We play many games like this with each other.
For example he intentionally acts in the most chauvinist way possible just to rile me then spreads his extra thick charm for my benefit. I am getting better at this game. At first all he had to do was give me a passionate kiss with some empty compliment on how I look beautiful when angry. Now he has to work harder at trying to fix his gaffe. Sometimes my anger is just a sham and he knows it too but we both enjoy the making up part so no one complains.
Two days ago he deliberately started checking out all the women jogging in park when I was with him. I wore my skimpiest jogging clothes yesterday and started complimenting all the men. Since I abhor all the discrimination against women I turned my attention to women as well. I won hands down in that game.
He was blasé about me looking at other men but he completely lost it when I joined him in admiring the women. He tells me there is reason for this reaction and he is not homophobic but I still think his response to my teasing was way out of proportion.
So today I am posing to be engrossed in my work. I mumble how I have only two days time to finish up the reports after our initial greeting. Sam agrees with me. Yes I should finish up what I am doing. If I am busy then he might as well do his never ending admin tasks.
He is telling me about his bad habit of doing all business verbally or writing things down in a language that nobody will understand. He can read and remember everything perfectly but his accountant can't make any heads or tails out of things he has written down. Neither can he access the information stored in the head. He goes around the table, sits in the chair and starts working on his computer.
It looks as if both of us don't want to loose the game today. I know he is watching me while working. I still keep my nose firmly in my laptop and refuse to look at him.
At the back of mind I am thinking about what I just said to him. Today is Friday. The school is starting on next Monday. My idle time is coming to an end. Once school starts I won't be able to spend any time with Sam in the mornings. We have to sneak some time to be together or wait for the weekend.
"My school starts next week you know. I won't be able to come here anymore" I give the words to my thought process.
"I wish you didn't have to go to work as well. Then we can be together in the afternoon when Luke goes to school" comes Sam's replay
Now I look up at him "How can I manage without my job?"
"I can give you pin money. You are getting paid peanuts compared to what I can give you"
"Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting? Is this proposition similar to the 'arrangement' you had with Sally?"
He senses my anger and tries to take a side step "No that was completely different"
"Ok tell me how it is different. You just offered to pay me pin money for doing what exactly?"
"You cook for us and look after Luke. There are many things you do for me besides warming my bed"
"You already pay Alice for looking after Luke. As for cooking, that will earn me even less money than teaching. Then again I have to pay you back every time we go out."
"I pay Alice for the child care. What you do for Luke is something invaluable. So I will be paying you less for the job you are doing"
"If what I do for Luke is invaluable then I can't accept payment for it. Besides if I leave my job and accept your offer instead then you will expect me to be at your beck and call. I will be bored to tears in the afternoon when you go to sleep. I know housework is important but I can't occupy myself with domestic tasks all day. I really love teaching. I might be getting paid peanuts but it's the money I earn for something I love doing"
"How about you start a school here to teach people in the block. I know you are teaching Joe. You can do something on a bit bigger scale. I can fund the school for you. I think I can even get a tax break for it."
"I will like to do that if you are serious about it. However it has to be a proper registered facility with necessary approval from the department of education. I can't leave job in the middle of the school year anyway. My students depend on me. I have given my commitment to them"
"And it won't be proper to leave now" he finishes my sentence. "It's just too much proper for my liking 'Miss Proper Schoolteacher'. Let's do something improper instead". He gets up from the chair and comes stalking towards me.
This is my cue to make my next move in this game. I produce a mock screech of offence, bounce from my chair and start to run away from him. He doesn't try to catch me, he just herds me in the direction we both want to go. He even gives a fake roar.
We started this game after I told him about how I thought of a lion when I first saw him. He then confided that he was comparing me to a mouse. Sometimes we think eerily alike.
I don't run very far. I just cross the corridor to go in our bedroom. The game of lion and mouse ends in the poor mouse getting caught by the lion.
However this mouse survives after getting close and personal with a certain lion, just barely.
Sam is in the mellow mood. I am coming down from the euphoria myself. We are still cuddling and kissing but my brain is able to function again. I want to pick up the previous subject of our discussion.
"Were you serious about starting the school?" I ask him
"Gee I must be loosing my touch if you have started thinking so soon" comes his smart ass comment.
"No please this is important." I plead.
"I guess if you are interested then we can work something out. You need to find out what needs to be done"
"I think you can apply to become a registered adult training provider. I can find out what else we need but we definitely need a place to run the classroom training"
"If you want to start small then we can use the pet shop for the time being"
"The pet shop. I don't understand"
"Gary wants to sell the shop."
"Sell the shop why?"
"Apparently his mobile petting zoo is picking up. Besides he already has steady client base here. Most of his business is done taking orders over the phone and supplying products. He doesn't need a shop to do that. All he needs is a decent website, a smartphone and good supply chain"
"That's really brilliant. Whose idea was that"
"I was under the impression that you suggested it."
I try to remember whether I might have advised Gary to sell his pet shop and run an online business in our long ago business planning session.
Gary is still a sour subject between us. I have heard through the grapevine that Sam and Gary had some argument in my absence and the reason for that dispute was me.
I still feel guilty about hurting Gary's feelings. By now I am sure that he was carrying a torch for me. I can never return his regard but I should have let him down bit gently.
"So will the pet shop work for the school?" Sam doesn't like me even thinking about Gary. So he takes us back to our original subject of discussion.
At some point I will have to ask Sam what happened between Gary and him. Why Gary suddenly decided to move out of Sam's apartment and is selling the shop now. However this is not the time for difficult discussions. So I concede to him easily and we continue discussing the school.
"It depends on what we are teaching. I think if we only run ESL courses then it will be enough"
"ESL? What's that?"
"That's a course for people with English as a second language. It teaches how to communicate in English"
"Why do you need to go to school learn how to speak English. All anyone has to do is, Listen to English. Talk in English and Think in English."
"Well people whose mother tongue is English can do that but others can't"
"Why not? My mother tongue is not English. English is not even my second language. If I can speak English then anyone can. In my opinion these people are just lazy. They don't want to take the effort. They take the easy option of talking in their language. That's why I refuse to talk to Joe in anything but English."
"Hang on a minute do you know how to speak his language?"
"He speaks a bit different dialect but yes I can understand and speak the Serbian language"
"Wow! how many more languages can you speak"
"I can speak 14 European and Eastern European languages or I used to be able to anyway. I have lost touch with some of them"
"14 languages that's an impressive feat indeed. Most of us can manage one or two at the most."
"I might not be able to speak some of them anymore"
"Yes still in effect you have forgotten more languages than a normal person learns in his entire life."
Sam looks really uncomfortable with my praise. This is the thing about Sam. He can be overly arrogant in some respects but if I point to him how extraordinarily intelligent he is then he gets embarrassed about it. I don't let go any teasing opportunities with him.
"Are you shy?" I ask him. "You are Shy. You are shy." I start repeating in a childlike sing song voice.
"Now that's really mature" he takes a dig at me
I stick out my tongue at him and keep repeating the mantra.
"Do you want your school or not"
This threat sobers me quickly.
"What I am trying to prove is that most people need help in learning to speak English. Not everybody is as brainy as you are"
"So you think I am brainy. Hum that's interesting. What else do you think about me?"
"Please don't change the subject now"
"Frankly I am getting bored with the subject can we do something more interesting"
"No please be serious what do you want to call this school"
"Who me? Why me?"
"You are the one who is going to fund it so you get the naming rights."
"If I have the naming rights then I have an excellent suggestion. Let's call it 'The school of Improper Education'"
He starts cracking more jokes on what we can teach in this school. I can't stop giggling at his jokes. He effectively stops my giggling when he proceeds to teach me my next lesson in 'The school of Improper Education'.