Page 19 of Sunsets & Slow Dances

“Mr. Hendrix?” I walked inside the room, happy to see he was still rocking sweater vests. “Why aren’t you at the high school?”

Mr. Hendrix was my English teacher junior year.

“Oh no, no, no, no. Teenagers these days are not for me. I cannot compete with Snapchat, Instagram, or TikTok.” He shook his head.

“Where are your students?” I looked around at the empty desks.

“Raptured,” he stated with a straight face before grinning. “No, they have P.E. this period so it’s my prep.” He shook his head. “Callum Knight, you are a sight for sore eyes.”

“You have sore eyes?” Matty asked with concern.

“No, that’s just a figure of speech,” I explained.

“Oh.” Matty’s head tilted to the side.

I was sure I’d be explaining what figure of speech meant later.

“Matty, this was my favorite teacher, Mr. Hendrix.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Hendrix.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Matty.”

“Can you be my teacher?”

Mr. Hendrix smiled, then glanced at me and back at Matty. “Not this year, but I know, if you’re anything like your daddy, then you willloveyour teacher.”

I was about to ask who Matty’s teacher was when Matty asked, “Why do you have ears and eyes and hands and glasses and pencils on the wall?” Matty pointed to the four walls where the large posters were hung. One wall had ears, one had eyes, one had hands, and one had glasses and pencils.

Mr. Hendrix looked up at me, then back down at Matty. “I know it’syourfirst day, but do you think we should give your dad a test?”

Matty’s eyes lit up, and he smiled as he nodded.

“Okay, Callum, do you remember what the signs on the walls represent?”

I grinned. “I do.”

Of course I did. Those represented the reason why I had enjoyed his class. Mr. Hendrix didn’t teach information to be memorized and spewed back in tests. He taught critical thinking before it was trendy to do so. He empowered students by educating them about their learning styles, which were either visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or read/write. On the first day, we took a test and then were split up into groups. Each lesson he gave had different tasks, sheets, projects, and homework depending on your group. It was the most fun I ever had in school, before or since.

“Those are the ways people learn. Some people learn by seeing, some by hearing, some by touching things, and some by reading and writing.” As I described each learning style, I pointed to the eyes, ears, hands, and glasses and pencils.

“Cool.” Matty did a three-sixty circle as he stared up at the posters.

“There you are.” Principal Lewis stuck his head in the room. “I thought I lost you.”

We said our goodbyes to Mr. Hendrix, with him asking me to promise not to be a stranger, which I happily did.

On our way to Matty’s class, Principal Lewis lowered his voice, saying, “I just wanted to say, it’s a good thing, what you’re doing for Chloe. She deserves a break.”

I wasn’t sure if he was just saying that because of her situation or if he knew her personally. I hoped it was the latter. I might be grasping at straws, but anyone who could give me some insight into her would be helpful.

“Do you know Chloe well?”

“I was the vice principal of the middle school last year. She was in my officea lot.” He grinned. “She’s really smart and gifted. She’s a good kid despite her best efforts not to be. She’s not as tough as she wants you to think she is.”

I nodded. I could see that he genuinely cared about Chloe. It was the most information I had regarding my sister. I wish I had more to go on. I still felt totally lost as to why Danielle had named me her guardian.

“Here we are.” When Principal Lewis opened the door, I was lost in my thoughts.

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