40
Abraham Lincoln Panim walked home, and again, he felt that
nobody was staring at him at all. In fact, for a late spring afternoon, he
discovered that he was just about the only one on the street at the time.
He walked straight home, opened the door, and he saw his
mother sitting on the couch.
“Mom, what are you doing home so early?” he asked her.
“Sit down, son,” she said.
Abraham Lincoln Panim took of his jacket and his scarf and
put these things on another chair near the couch, which is where he put his
briefcase. He then sat down on the couch opposite his mother.
“Mom, what is going on? In school today—“
“I know what happened in school today. I did not want it to
happen that way, but let me explain. First of all, that is the reason that I am
home so early. Let me—“
“What is going on?”
“Let me tell you. Please let me talk.”
Abraham Lincoln Panim slid back on the couch, and listened
to what his mother had to say.
“This has been a very difficult time for both you and me
right now, what with your father and everything else. And then, to get this
thrown on top of everything—“
“What—what about my job?”
“I am getting to that. Let me explain.
“A few weeks ago, the days that I came home very late from
school, I was at various conferences with the Board of Education. They only
have a certain amount of money that can go around, and they were talking about
budget cuts.
“One way that they cut the budget that they have is to get
rid of teachers, get rid of administrators, and even get rid of schools. And
that is what they were talking about during these meetings that I attended.
“But mom, what does that have to do with us?”
“Let me continue.
“One of the reasons that I was at these meetings is that
our school was being looked at as one that might be closed down at the end of
the school year. There is a similar school on the other side of town, and the
Board of Education believed that that school could handle both their own pupil
population and the new population of students coming from our school.
“So after long and hard deliberation, they decided to close
our school down. Some of our teachers will go to the other school, but for all
intents and purposes, or school is history after the school year ends.”
“But what about now? How does that affect me …?”
Abraham Lincoln Panim knew that he had made a mistake with
that question, and he rephrased it.
“ … how does that affect you and me?”
“Well, since everything will be moving over to the other
school during the next school year, after the current school year is over and
done with, I am out of a job. The other school has a principal who has been
there forever, but there is no place for me, so I am out of a job in a few
days. I am done.”
“Mom, that is terrible,” Abraham Lincoln Panim said to his
mother as he moved closer to her and gave her a hug.
After he let go of the embrace, he saw that she had started
to cry.
“Mom, I am sure there is some other school you can work
at.”
“No, because of the budget cuts, there is no place for me
in this school system. I am done. I think I am going to have to retire, retire
before I wanted to.”
Tears were streaming down Mrs. Panim’s face. There was a
long pause, and then Abraham Lincoln Panim asked his mother:
“Mom, what about me¿ I am sure the school on the other side
of town needs someone like me … I am so young, so good at what I do—“
Mrs. Panim wiped away her tears and tried to say something,
but the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth.
“Mom … mom … ?
Mrs. Panim wiped away some more tears.
“Abraham Lincoln Panim … you are also out of a job.”
“Why mom … how can I be out of a job? I did a—“
“Remember, I pulled a lot of strings for you to even get
that job. You had no experience, you had no teaching license, you had nothing.
But you filled a need when we were in a pinch. We had no idea that Mr. Praeger
would be out as long as he was, and you kind of fell into the job.
“Now that I don’t have a job and I can’t pull any strings
anymore, you are also out of a job.”
Abraham Lincoln Panim stood up.
“How can that be … how can that be … ?
“In fact, Mr. Praeger is well enough to come back right
now, and the Board of Education wants him to come back and teach the last few
days before the end of school, and they are retaining him for next year, even
with the budget cuts. Maybe he knows someone in high places … I just don’t
know, But he is being retained.
“So today was your last day as a teacher. I have to go back
and tie up some loose ends, so you have to give me everything you have from
your class, and I will give them to Mr. Praeger when he gets to school.”
Abraham Lincoln Panim was incensed. He started to pace back
and forth.
“Look, that was not my decision. That is what the Board of
Education decided. Mr. Praeger is a well-respected teacher who has been doing
this for years. You just started out.”
Abraham Lincoln Panm continued to pace back and forth as
his mother kept on talking through her tears.
“That is one reason that I was home so late every night. I
have had a long career, and while the end came a bit sooner than I thought it
would, I tried to convince the Board of Education to keep you on, but again,
without—“
“Mom, I am going to take a walk,” said Abraham Lincoln
Panim to his mother, and he grabbed his jacket and scarf and headed out the
door, slamming it as he left.
He hurriedly got to the park, and sat on the bench that he
usually sat at. It was earlier than normal for him to have come for his walk in
the park, but the sun soon faded.
He thought to himself, “Ariel … then dad … now this. What
is happening to me?”
Abraham Lincoln Panim looked around, hoping to see the
older woman sitting on the bench some ways down from him, but she was not
there. And as had happened when he walked home from what became his last day as
a teacher, he didn’t see anyone at all walking in the park.
“What is happening? What is going on? What am I? What did
dad say to me?”
He put his head in his hands, and started to cry.
“I almost wish that I was that rat face again … no, I do wish that I was that rat-faced guy
again. I REALLY DO WISH I WAS THAT RAT-FACED GUY AGAIN!”
Abraham Lincoln Panm sat there weeping, as the sun gave way
to the dark, with the moonlight the only light cascading down on him.
THE
BEGINNING
