#119 Collision

“Ms Temple?”

Alice turned to see a lady and a little girl clinging to her mother’s hand. Principal Adams had told her to expect them.

“Goodmorning, Mrs Smith I assume and this must be Karine”

The two women exchanged pleasantries as Karine refused to let go of her mother’s hand.

“Karine, it’s such an interesting name..”

“When we adopted her, the nurse told us the birth mother had wanted to name the baby after her mother. I didn’t know her name so we named her after my mother.”

Alice saw the birthmark on Karine’s left ear and remembered the photograph.

 

 

P.S. The story is a continuation of sorts from #118 What If..  

#100 Firsts

She was the spitting image of her mother except for the colour of her eyes. She must have got those from her father. The little girl was oblivious of Rachel’s study as she read aloud from the story book.

She was a transfer student and today was her first day.

The girl’s mother had been in Rachel’s first class. She had called them Lilliputian monsters. They had lived up to their name but she loved them nevertheless.

Rachel smiled thinking of her first day. The Encounter was what she liked to call it as when she told people her story.

#1 The Encounter

The tallest of them must have been about 3’ off the ground. He smiled but she’d been warned against their seemingly innocent faces.  They sat in front of her with an impatience she sensed was growing.

35 pairs of eyes looked at her expectantly, hands fidgeting, legs twitching, like they were sitting time bombs.

Even the one with the pigtails had shifted her attention from the beetle on the window to her.

It could be delayed no longer.

She took a deep breath and began, “Good morning children, my name is Rachel and I will be your teacher from today.”