Chapter 19

19

He arrived home after the walk, and his mother was sitting at the kitchen table, which had papers all around on it, work that Mrs. Panim was doing when her son arrived.

She pushed everything aside when he came in the door.

“Son, please sit down here. I need to talk to you,” she said.

Abraham Lincoln Panim took a seat.

“What’s up mom?” he asked her.

“Have you given any thought to what you are going to do with your life?” she asked him. “Mrs. Stottle isn’t around anymore, and while I am at work, all that you do is putter around the house. You don’t really do much until the evening, when you take your walk.”

“I have given it some thought, but I really don’t know,” he replied. “Who is going to have me with my rat face?”

“Well, for now, I think I might have something for you,” she replied. “I pulled a couple of strings, and I think I have a job for you—right in my school.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim stopped right in his tracks. “In your school? What could I possibly do in your school?”

“You can substitute teach in my school,” she said. “Look, it could be a good job for you, get your confidence up, put you in front of people and the rest of the world.”

“But subbing? Mom—“

“It is steady work, you can work five days a week, make some money, maybe eventually get your teaching credentials and become a regular teacher. I think it might be a good thing for you.”

“But mom, with my rat face—“

“The kids won’t know and won’t care. And you can wear the scarf if you like, no kid is going to tell a teacher what to wear.”

“But being a sub—“

“Look, we are in dire need of substitute teachers. I thought you would be a good fit. You are young, out of work with no job … you can pick up the curriculum pretty well, and I am sure the kids will like you once they get to know you.”

“But mom—“

“Look, Abraham Lincoln Panim. I pulled a lot of strings to get you this opportunity. It is the best I can do. But if you don’t want it—“

Abraham Lincoln Panim hesitated. “Well … when do I start?” he asked.

“You can begin on Monday. I have classes that desperately need a sub, someone like you. It might be a job, but it might also be fun.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim nodded in agreement, but he thought that somehow, this job would be anything but what his mother said it would be.

Mrs. Panim and her son arrived at school on Monday, and both went to the main office, which was a beehive of activity, with people moving about, doing their jobs as the school week was ready to begin.

“Attention, everyone,” Mrs. Panim said. “I want you to meet ‘Mr. Abraham.’ He is going to be doing some subbing at the school, so I want you to get to know him.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim, tightened up on his scarf, which was already pulled tightly around his face. He did not know that he was going to be “Mr. Abraham,” and not be introduced as the principal’s son.

Mrs. Panim riffled through some papers on the desk in the main office.

A woman came up to Mrs. Panim, and handed her some additional papers.

“Sol is out again. He just can’t kick that cough,” the woman said as she handed the papers to Mrs. Panim. “He such a great teacher, I hope he won’t be out too long.”

Mrs. Panim looked at the papers. “Oh, I see Mr. Praeger is going to be out today. Yes, I remember, he came in with a terrible cough the other day, and I figured he had a really bad cold.”

She then addressed her son. ‘Mr. Abraham,’ that is the class that you are going to be substitute teaching for today and as long as Mr. Praeger is out.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim took a big gulp, not at first realizing that his mother was addressing him as “Mr. Abraham.”

“OK, where do I have to go and what do I have to do?” he said as he pulled his scarf even tighter to his face.

As ‘Mr. Abraham’ and his mother left the main office, a few teachers had been checking their mail, and one male teacher turned around to another and said, in a hushed tone, “So this kid is taking over for Praeger … nobody really takes over for Praeger, you know. We’ll make this kid feel sooooo welcome here.”

The two laughed and continued to look through their mail.

“Just follow the substitute teacher instructions that are in the upper draw of his desk, and don’t forget to take attendance,” Mrs. Panim told her son as they walked to the room together. “Remember, there will be a couple of students who will think that today is a holiday because their regular teacher is out. Let them know that you are their teacher for now, and that they should pay attention.”

They climbed up the staircase together, and arrived at room 222. As they opened the door, students were milling about in the room as they entered.

“Hi, Mrs. Panim,” said a girl who was sitting in the front row near the door.

“Hello, Melissa,” Mrs. Panim replied. “How is your brother doing?”

“Oh, he is doing fine. He is out of school now, and he is looking for work. Maybe he can work here?”

Mrs. Panim did not answer as she walked to the front of the class with her son in tow. She cleared her throat and everyone stopped what they were doing.

“Class, Mr. Praeger is out today. He might be out for a day or two, and while he is out, I want you to give Mr. Pa … err … ‘Mr. Abraham’ … all the respect and attention that he deserves as your teacher.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim was still not comfortable being called “Mr. Abraham,’ and while he was still pretty nervous, he figured that it was better off that his mother did not want the class to know that he was her son, or at least related to him.

He would have liked to have been called “Mr. Panim,” another name that he had never heard before, but he understood why it was better being known as “Mr. Abraham,” in the school at this moment.

He moved to a spot behind the desk as Mrs. Panim was exiting the room.

“Remember students, please give Mr. Abraham your utmost respect,” she said, the door closing behind her as the class said in unison, “Yes, Mrs. Panim.”

As the door closed, all the students in the class were sitting in their seats, but within a few seconds, all the students got up and began to mingle like they did before Mrs. Panim and Abraham Lincoln Panim entered the classroom.

Abraham Lincoln Panim was too busy to notice. He nervously ruffled some papers as he looked for the class roll, and then he turned around, wrote his name “Mr. Abraham” on the blackboard, and he located the class roll.

“OK, class, I have to take the class roll. Is Michael Anton here?”

Before Michael Anton could answer, Melissa stood up from her desk.

“Don’t tell him anything,” she blurted out. “He is only a sub.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim heard this, and he said, “Listen, the faster I get this done, the faster I can get on with the lesson for the day … Mr. Praeger left some things here that I need to do with you.”

“I’m Michael Anton,” a boy in the back of the room said, and as Abraham Lincoln Panim read down the roll, some students said they were here, others just ignored him.

“Look, if you are here, and I mark you absent, you know that the office is going to check you out and find out where you were when you were supposed to be in class, so you might as well answer that you are here.”

Some students who didn’t answer before when their names were called finally told Abraham Lincoln Panim that they were, in fact, in the class, while others simply decided not too, with the continued urging of Melissa.

“Don’t tell him anything. He is just a sub and we will never see him again,” she continued to tell the class.

Abraham Lincoln Panim remembered that his mother, while entering the class, called this girl “Melissa,” so he knew she was present even though she never told him that she was there. He just looked up the name “Melissa” and put a check mark by her name. Others he knew he missed, but after asking them to tell them they were there, if they refused, that was going to be their problem.

Abraham Lincoln Panim put away the roll book in the desk, and then he became “Mr. Abraham” as he addressed the class.

“OK, I think I have everyone. Today, Mr. Praeger wanted us to start off with a spelling test, so let’s get that out of the way.”

The class let out a collective groan, but most of the students finally sat down and took out their composition books to take the test.

“OK, the way that Mr. Praeger does it is that he asks you to spell the word, and if you can also put the word into a proper sentence, you get a bonus, so the first word is ‘discover.’”

Most of the class started to write down the word in their books, and tried to use it in a sentence.

Melissa raised her hand. Abraham Lincoln Panim turned toward her.

“Yes, your name is Melissa, right?”

“Mr. Abraham, why do you wear that scarf around your face so tight like that?”

Abraham Lincoln Panim stumbled over the words to answer her as quickly as he could.

“Well, you see, Mr. Praeger is sick, and some of his germs might be all over the material he left for me to do with you, so I am just taking an extra precaution. I don’t want to get sick … and then you would have a sub for the sub!”

The class laughed, and Melissa, evidently satisfied with his answer, started to write in her composition book.

Abraham Lincoln Panim went through the words in the test after that, one after another, and he then collected all of the students’ test sheets.

The morning of Abraham Lincoln Panim’s first day as “Mr. Lincoln,” the substitute teacher, went pretty well after that, with lesson after lesson completed.

It went so well that when the lunch bell rang, Abraham Lincoln Panim did not know that so much time had passed as the students got up from their desks and exited the room.

As Abraham Lincoln Panim sat at his desk and the students exited the room, he looked out at the empty room, breathed a sigh of relief, and took out his own lunch from a big pocket in his jacket.

“Maybe this won’t be so bad after all,” he thought to himself, as he also left the room and went to the teacher’s room, which was right down the hall from the classroom.

He entered, and a group of teachers were chatting as he came into the room.

“Hi, my name is ‘Abraham’ and I just took over Mr. Praeger’s class while he is out sick,” Abraham Lincoln Panim said as he looked for a place to sit down and eat his lunch.

Most of the teachers completely ignored him, continuing their chatting without taking a breath.

Abraham Lincoln Panim sat down on a couch in the room where he could find some space, took out his lunch, and read over a few papers for his class.

One teacher, a short, stubby looking man with thick glasses, broke away from the chirping teachers and sat down next to “Mr. Abraham.”

“You are new to the school, aren’t you?” asked the teacher. “My name is Mr. Sedall, Joe, and I hear that you are taking over Praeger’s class while he is out.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Abraham Lincoln Panim, as he extended his hand to shake Mr. Sedall’s hand, but the teacher never extended his hand to him. “Mr. Abraham” drew his hand back as quickly as he had extended it.

“What’s your background?” Mr. Sedall asked Abraham Lincoln Panim as “Mr. Abraham” withdrew his hand in response to Mr. Sedall.

“Well, I graduated—“

“You know that Praeger, even if he is an old coot, is really a great teacher, you know.”

“Yes, I have heard that he is a fine teacher. But let me tell you about—“

“He has been here for such a long time, and I know that he has probably gotten pneumonia again. He gets it every so often, and we love Sol as a teacher here.”

“Yes, I have heard that. But let me answer—“

“Well, you are young, and I know you are looking for a teaching job, but just let’s get things straight,” Mr. Sedall firmly stated. “That is Praeger’s job. You are just a sub, nothing but a sub. That is not really your class.”

“I never said it was,” said Abraham Lincoln Panim, pulling up his scarf as he was getting a bit nervous about what was happening.

Mr. Sedall smiled as he got up from the couch.

“So, you are just going to be here for a little while, and let’s be on the same page, OK?”

“I don’t know about the future, but right now, I am teaching these students—“

“You are nothing but a sub,” Mr. Sedall repeated, through his smile and clenched teeth. “And I have one more question to ask you.

“What is with that scarf over your mouth? What gives with that?”

Abraham Lincoln Panim heard the chatting teachers start to laugh. He got up, and left the room, went back to the classroom, and finished his lunch there.

He vowed never to tell his mother about what had happened in the teacher’s room. “I will take care of it myself,” he thought.