3 Christine
Christine watched the clock as each person in her class raised their hand and took turns telling stories about dogs. Christine hated this class, “Classroom Management.” Every time the class met it resorted to story time and the material is never covered. She couldn’t be like Craig and blow off classes for no good reason, and for no reason other than spite, this class had mandatory attendance, despite its propensity for wasting time. Christine heard the final, like the class, was no big deal, a two-page paper and a lesson plan for an elementary classroom that shows differentiation and options for management, so she wasn’t really worried about the class at all, so her mind began to wonder while people shared stories about dogs. To be fair, unlike most education courses, she had learned something in this class. Never bring up dogs or dreams in the classroom. Everybody in class seemed to have a story, and none of them were particularly interesting.
Brownies. She imagined a gigantic platter of brownies that she could eat all day. She would lie on her couch, watch “The Real World” and devour brownies and she wouldn’t worry about gaining weight and not fitting into her wedding dress because this is her fantasy and she could eat whatever and how much of it she liked. Christine wasn’t lazy or gluttonous. She didn’t think she could be and land a great guy like Craig, handsome, brave, and cool. Christine knew that Craig wasn’t perfect; he hung out with those druggies at the radio station and his band way too much and partied a little too much without her. But she could change him, and he would settle down after college when they got married.
Christine pictured herself in about twelve months on the first day of school, hopefully teaching a classroom of multiracial kindergarteners that come from supportive, loving families that have instilled a deep love of literature, which has fostered a deep desire to learn in the children, and she would be the driving force behind their success in life. Each child recognizing her as the beacon of higher order thinking and enlightenment that she knows that she will be, and they choose, nay, they desire to write long thoughtful letters to her about how she was so important and instrumental to their life, and that they would have never ended up on the Supreme Court without her all of those years ago and how they see their other classmates while meeting with congress and how her and Craig’s daughter was such a wonderful, thoughtful first female President of the United States, no, not emails, her students would take the time to write letters. It would be that important to them. While living the life of a great educator would be taxing, Christine knew that she would be able to plan a wonderful wedding and life with Craig. It would be perfect.
What wasn’t perfect was the class she was in. The professor always distracted her. Cameron, the only non-druggie at the radio station that was a housemate of Craig, had leant her a book, Sabbath’s Theater by Philip Roth. In it a retired puppeteer is a total sexual deviant, and he is described exactly like the professor, belly, balding, Santa beard. An unattractive man that is completely disgusting. Christine liked the story, Cameron was always lending her good books, but she couldn’t shake the image of her Classroom Management professor hiding in a graveyard, hoping the boys over the hill were in the middle of a circle jerk.
Brownies.
Brownies.
Brownies.
Christine knew that she wouldn’t pick up a bag of brownies on the way home. She had a dress to fit into. She twirled her short curly blonde hair, while she tried to decide if she should have a snack or sneak in another aerobics class after the dog stories had run their course.
She and Craig hadn’t set a date yet. He had been too busy with school, the radio station, his friends, and sometimes he drummed with a Flipper cover band to sit down and decide on a date. Maybe she should talk with Cam about it; she would see him at some point today probably. He was the only one of Craig’s friends that was in the college of education, and he usually was fun to talk to and had good taste. It was always odd to Christine that Cameron seemed to never have a girlfriend for long. He had a lot going for him. He was tall with a nice face and was very knowledgeable. He seemed cultured, unlike Craig, who only went with her to watch the University symphony because he thought they would have nachos there. Christine bet that Cam would understand her situation, and help her by convincing Craig to fully commit to the wedding and help her set a date. As the class ended and only three students, including her, were not able to share a story about their shiatsus, Christine decided that after class maybe she would just get one brownie.