(a Lost Episode set after First Day)
By Emily
Mr. James Raddish sighed as he put the drugstore bag down on the kitchen table. Inside was every antacid known to man. He was just stocking up for the long year ahead.
"Tough room this year, hmm?" his wife Sylvia Raddish asked from her spot on the kitchen floor, where she was painting her toenails crimson. "Usually you're not making one of your drugstore runs until at least the second week of school."
James shook his head as he loosened his bowtie. "I couldn't wait a week this time."
"That bad, huh?" She laughed as she got up and put her arms around him comfortingly. "Poor Jimmy." She gently stroked his head.
"Remind me again why I became a teacher," James replied with a groan.
"Because you were a crazy, idealistic young fool who thought you might make a difference in a child's life," she answered, smiling at him.
"You fell in love with a fool," James said, sighing.
"Want to tell me about it? I'll make tea," Sylvia offered.
"Tea would be divine," he said with a smile as she opened up one of the cupboards in their small little kitchenette.
While the kettle was boiling, they sat together at their Formica-topped kitchen table. "I have a feeling I'm in for a tough year," Mr. Raddish began as Sylvia put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I got stuck with Michael Guerin this year. He's a real troublemaker. Broken home, foster father. Always getting sent to the principal's office. And Maria DeLuca, who looks like an angel but is an absolute terror. Not to mention Kyle Valenti."
"The Sheriff's son?" She had heard about the problems Sheriff Valenti and his wife were having at home.
"That's right. He used to be a fairly well-behaved child, but for the last year or so he's gone on a downhill slide. He tripped me with his pencil today. And Rodney Hodgkins is back in my class for his second trip through fifth grade."
She shook her head sympathetically. "Surely there must be somebody good in your class."
"Yes, little Elizabeth Parker. Who, unexplainably, is Maria DeLuca's best friend. Very smart, straight-A student. Excellent in science from what I've heard. Came close to winning the science fair last year, as a matter of fact. I remember. And Max Evans. A quiet boy, keeps to himself. But also a straight-A student. And, again unexplainably, best friends with Michael Guerin, of all people."
"Just remember, Jimmy. It's not the bright, well-adjusted ones who need a good teacher the most. It's the ones who have problems at home. The lost children."
"It's so much easier to just send them off to the principal's office to deal with them though," James complained to his wife of nearly 10 years.
"Sure it is. But promise me you'll at least try."
"I'll try," James answered. "But I'm only human, dear."
Just then, the kettle whistled shrilly. "Which is precisely why I married you," Sylvia replied as she got up out of her chair to turn off the stove.
James just watched her for a minute, shaking his head slightly. Sylvia was right, as she usually was. But she didn't fully understand. To his class, he was just dorky old fuddy duddy Mr. Raddish. Every year he told himself that if he could reach at least one of his students this year, touch one of them in some fundamental way, he would count himself lucky. But every year, it seemed as if that got a little bit harder to do. And it seemed like the older he got, the more often he had to turn to Sylvia, her tea, and the over-the-counter antacids to find his strength to go on.
Who knew what this year would bring? But he had a feeling that if he could get through this year, he could get through anything.
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