Chapter Two
Don’t Let Them Dance.
“Hello, I’m Hamper Unwin, the new sub,” he said to the school secretary.
“Good Morning, Mr. Unwin, I’m Mrs. Riley, the school secretary, please be seated and the Assistant Principal will be with you shortly.”
He sat in the plain wooden chair and observed the business in the office. Teachers, parents, students, time cards, punch clocks, telephones, children crying, a custodian with a long handled mop wiping a spill outside the door.
“Watch your step. I don’t know, what it is,” he said shaking his head and wringing the mop out in a yellow pail that rolled around on wheels.
Hamper took his pen and legal pad out of the backpack and wrote down the titles of musicals he’d written to reassure himself that his dream would not die, ‘Beyond Rejection,’ ‘The Perfect Man,’ ‘Community Room,’ ‘Cup of Change.’ A pretty woman behind the long counter interrupted him,
“Good Morning, Mr. Unwin, I’m Nina Silverman, the Assistant Principal.”
They shook hands.
“You couldn’t make it out there so you came in here, right?” she teased.
Hamper blushed tomato. Was it his hair? His white shirt and tie? His head spun and his eyes caught a substantial woman stride through the office, hang a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on a heavy wooden door and pull it tightly shut.
“Excuse me?” he asked
“That’s the principal, Mrs. Arfi,” Ms. Silverman said.
“You don’t want to visit with her,” the secretary piped in.”
Hamer had caught Silverman’s drift, “You mean those who can, do, those who can’t, teach?”
“Oh nothing, I was just teasing,” Silverman laughed, “I saw you making a list.”
“I can make it out there,” Hamper said composing himself.
“What do you make out there?” she continued twinkling her dark eyes and tapping a pencil on the counter.
“I’m a songwriter.”
“Excellent. Everyone needs a hobby,” she said. “Well, today you’ll be covering for Mrs. Burnside who’s on maternity leave.”
“Good luck,” a passing teacher said when she heard his assignment.
“Don’t mind her,” Silverman said. “Mrs. Burnside is very popular and she finished last Friday with her dance students in a very successful performance.”
“I must say, it was a very good show and raised $350 for her dance class,” Riley said from behind a copy machine.
“Anyway,” Silverman continued, “you’ll be covering her dance class in room 209.”
“Don’t forget to tell him about Tre, Riley said.
“Yes, Tre can be difficult. He’s a little rock star and was the hit of the dance show, and he can push and push…”
“…and push, and push..” she interjected.
“..until he gets his way,” Silverman continued.
“That’s a nice way to put it,”you know who added.
“Ms. Riley prefers to look at life through a dark lens,” Silverman teased the older woman making copies. “You’ll do fine,” she told him. “Here’s your schedule. Do you have any questions?”
Hamper scribble down every word.
“Do you have any questions”? she repeated as the principal’s door opened and a voice boomed, Mrs. Riley, come in here.”
“Yes, how do I get to room 209,” Hamper asked.
“Down the hallway to the security desk, then up the stairs to the second floor. Turn right and it’s the first door on your left. Room 209.” “Is there anything else?” she asked as she walked over to Riley’s desk to answer a ringing phone.
“Public School 189, please hold a minute.” “Mr. Unwin, you’ll also help monitor the early lunch period. I’ll give you those details later. Come back to the office at 11:45….”Anything else…'“Yes?”
Hamper asked the obvious question, “May I let them dance?”
Silverman laughed, “I’m sorry I forgot, don’t let them dance. Whatever you do, don’t let them dance."
“Or you’ll be sorry,” Ms. Riley, mumbled as she crossed the threshold of Mrs. Arfi’s office.
“Riley, get in here.”
Chapter Three