Page 10 of Maizy the Bear Charmer

She pulled into the school parking lot and sighed as she parked. Some things never changed. Mr. Ambrose stood at the porte cochère in front of the school, eyes on his watch. He was greeting all the teachers as they walked toward the main entry, which would be buzzing with activity in half an hour. Mr. Ambrose was nice enough but he usually kept his employees at arm’s length and expected them to obey the teacher handbook to the letter, hence the watch-minding.

Trotting across the parking lot to get out of the mist, she greeted him cheerfully as she carried the food and coffees. She felt a little sorry for him because most of the teachers and staff poked fun at him behind his back. Maybe it was his tweed jacket and bow tie. Or the nerd glasses. She always rooted for the underdog so she wasn’t going to laugh at him. He was her boss, after all, along with the school board.

“Good morning, Miss Owen.”

“Good morning, Mr. Ambrose. I’m not late, am I?” she said, glancing at her watch.

Mr. Ambrose shook his head. “You still had one minute and forty-five seconds. You look very nice today. Very ladylike.”

“Thank you, sir!” she called as she hurried through the big open entry doors. The smell of the school on the first day, freshly painted, floors waxed, clean and shiny made her smile.

I love my job! This was would be a long day for her class, after having been at home all summer long. The schedule would be brief periods of orientation to the classroom environment mingled with time on the playground, the gymnasium, and the story circle in her room.

She smiled, anticipating the one or two students who might struggle all year, with varying degrees of success. She was up to the challenge, just to see that “aha!” moment when the little light bulb would go on upstairs and shine through their eyes. To make things even better, her nephew PJ was one of her pupils this year.

“Hey, Tinker Bell!” Jan Gaylord called from the doorway of the first grade classroom. “Ready or not?”

Laughing at the familiar nickname her coworker always used, Maizy hurried down to Jan and held up the tray. “Your cup has your name on it, Jan.”

Jan’s eyes went big and her cheeks turned pink. “That’s so thoughtful of you. I missed my coffee this morning.”

“I figured you might be able to use the extra caffeine today.”

Jan sipped from the cup and smiled. “It’s perfect. Thank you.” In a low voice, she whispered, “I heard about Chaz.”

“It was for the best.”

“Tell me about it. Rat bastards, every last one of them.”

The bitterness in Jan’s voice made Maizy’s heart hurt for her. Jan had closed off after her husband had suddenly left town. No amount of talking seemed to help her out of her bitter state and Maizy wasn’t sure she could blame her. She couldn’t even serve him with divorce papers until he resurfaced.

“I’m sure not all of them are that bad, Jan. There are good guys out there.”

Jan shrugged and said, “Thanks for the coffee. We can talk some more later.” Jan waved and ducked back into her classroom.

Maizy had been working for the last two weeks, so the classroom was completely ready. The quiet time she had that morning was reserved for centering herself and getting mentally prepared. As expected, that didn’t happen. Teachers came in and out of her classroom, asking if she had a blank copy of the student information form, or if she had an extra bottle of hand sanitizer, or if she would let them cry on her shoulder for two minutes before the kids started arriving for another year.

She didn’t mind. It kept her focused on the school day and less tempted to daydream about the three very large, very hot men who had evidently been searching for her for months and wanted to date her. I can’t go out with them! I teach kindergarten!

“Knock-knock!”

She grinned at the familiar voice and rose from her desk chair as her nephew came running in.

“Aunt Maizy! Aunt Maizy!” her nephew shouted as he wrapped his arms around her legs.

“Hey, Pugsly!” she cheered as she squatted down to eye level. “You ready?”

“You betcha!” He gave her a vigorous nod. “And I remember what we talked about. I call you Aunt Maizy and Maizy-Monster when the other kids aren’t around.”

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