InsaneJournal

Saturdays were typically squared away as a day off, or at least they were supposed to be. Apparently, the elementary school offered a weekend program for the students who both needed a little extra tutoring as well as a place to stay while their parents worked. Teachers were assigned to work on a rotating schedule and this weekend, Jenny found herself with Saturday duty. She hadn’t known what to expect. Truth be told, she wasn’t even sure what she was supposed to be doing, but some of the other teachers had given her some pointers on how to spend the next five hours. She figured that they could go over their homework, maybe play a game or two, and then go over anything the teachers had requested their students worked on. She was certain that things would have gone smoothly… had it not been for the happenings going on at the high school.

The kids were restless. Many of them had older siblings who attended the high school and word had spread like wildfire that school had been dismissed for them indefinitely, or at least until things could be figured out with the gym. Though the general population of the elementary school was happy to have their brothers or sisters home, they didn’t understand why they couldn’t stay at home as well. When they weren’t complaining, they were rattling off stories they had heard from the older kids about what they had experienced. Jenny wasn’t squeamish as far as horror was concerned, but she wasn’t overly fond of the idea that the children were sharing such gnarly tales of terror. That left only one solution: Show and Tell. Because today hadn’t been a proper school day, she had decided to bring Yoshi with her. Though she knew her familiar would let her know if he was feeling cooped up, she worried that spending all day, every day in his terrarium was getting to him. Of course, when the iguana sensed this worry, he reminded her that a significant portion of his life was devoted to leisurely lying under a heat lamp. Despite that fact, Yoshi happily allowed Jenny to pack him up and cart him off to the elementary school.

Jenny had known that her familiar would be of interest to her students, but she completely underestimated the extent of what a hit he would be. The moment the kids saw there was an unusual animal in the room, they had swarmed the glass case like lions on downed prey. And when he piped up that he needed breathing room? Those kids had gone wild. It took every trick she had in the book to redirect them back to showing and telling their own items from home. All they wanted was to ask Yoshi questions -- where did he come from? could he always talk? did he really like the taste of crickets? what was his favorite color? -- or sit in complete silence and watch him just… sitting there, blinking at nothing in particular. After lunch, she stopped fighting it and allowed them all to do as they pleased with Yoshi, considering that they were pleased in doing nothing at all. The silence was nice and a great way to end the day leading into Sunday.

Despite the calm and quiet ending to her day, Jenny was still running on a high from a good day. She didn’t feel like going home, especially considering that she was likely to be spending hours alone until Nick got off work -- if she was even awake when he came home. She’d been trying her best to keep up with his schedule, and while her insomnia helped her remaining awake long into the early A.M. hours, she couldn’t keep with only getting two hours of sleep without Nick noticing that something was off -- as if he didn’t already. Her brother was smart and he knew her, no matter how much time they spent apart; if Nick suspected that something was different about her, then he was waiting to bring it up, which she appreciated. Jenny just needed more time to settle.

With Yoshi wrapped around her shoulders like some kind of reptile scarf, Jenny walked through the front door to the hospital and up to the front reception desk. The woman behind it was on the phone, but she was not too busy to give Jenny an appraising look. Apparently, the elemental was found lacking.

“Can I help you,” she asked as she hung up the phone, exasperated by whatever she had been previously dealing with.

“I’m looking for Dr. Bryant? He should be on duty right now.”

“I can page him, but if he’s in surgery, I can’t guarantee he’ll answer.” Jenny was trying not to take the snappy tone to heart. If anyone understood stress, she did, but even still she could feel her temper start to flare. She forced a smile and gave the receptionist a sharp nod. Compliance was easy for her to feign when she knew she had no intention of actually doing what she was told. She bid her time, waiting patiently until the receptionist was distracted, then sauntered off in the direction of the elevator. Yes, Jenny had every intention of wandering the hallways until she stumbled upon her brother and she dared anyone to try to stop her.