“Oh, shit! Jabari!” she said, and jumped up to get her clothes on. Before Mr. Hall could get his pants on straight, Faith had her bra and shirt back on and was bending down to pick up her thong, which had been abandoned at the beginning of this little escapade. She tucked it into her purse, straightened her hair to the best of her ability, kissed Mr. Hall one more time, and exited the music room.
She ran into one of the bathroom stalls on her way down the hall and cleaned herself up with the wipes that she never traveled without. She reapplied her lip gloss as she approached the auditorium. Jabari’s class was assembling on the stage once she got inside. There were a couple of empty seats now, so Faith found one at the back of the crowd.
The fourth-graders began to sing “Silent Night” and Faith smiled and waved to her baby. He waved his hand quickly, embarrassed that some of the girls in his class would think that he was a momma’s boy. She giggled on the inside because she knew.
Faith’s legs finally stopped shaking. She had no idea how she had managed to wobble all the way back from the music room, and she was just glad that there was a chair available. Faith could hear the kids singing but all she saw were the images in her head of that damned Mr. Hall. That dark chocolate skin, that shiny bald head, and that huge—
“Is this seat taken?” she heard his voice behind her again. He didn’t wait for her to respond. Instead, he moved around the row of chairs and claimed the seat as his own.
Faith looked straight ahead. For some reason, she was nervous. She was still in a relationship with the father of her child and she had no idea of Mr. Hall’s background. She had never done this before. It was wrong for him to allow her to do it. But it felt so right. Mr. Hall said nothing as he stood up and walked behind the row of chairs. He dropped a piece of paper into Faith’s lap and continued to walk. Faith attempted to open the piece of paper before she noticed it was a letter. She folded it back into the small square it was when it had been given to her and tucked it into her purse.
Once the fourth-graders had finished all of their performance Jabari ran toward his mother and occupied the seat that Mr. Hall had first claimed.
“Baby, you were great!” she said to Jabari. He smiled and looked toward the stage where the final act was about to begin.
“Ma, I don’t wanna watch them. I’m hungry. Can we leave now?” Jabari asked, waiting for a response.
“Sure, baby. Let’s go.” Faith and Jabari exited the auditorium and headed to their car.
“Oh, I gotta use the bathroom.” He ran into one of the restrooms next to the water fountains.
Faith couldn’t wait to read the letter that Mr. Hall had given her so she pulled it out of her purse while Jabari was in the restroom. It read:
Dear Miss,
You never gave me your name. I would enjoy seeing you again, since I see that you enjoyed me. I wanted you when I first laid eyes on you. Jabari was in the second grade, and the first day you came to pick him up, I wanted to say something to you, but I didn’t want you to feel disrespected. I’m glad that you made the first move. You ran out in such a hurry tonight. If you ever think about me again contact me.
Alexander
Mr. Hall’s phone number and e-mail address were written at the bottom of the page. God, if he only knew she probably would never stop thinking about him. She tucked the paper back in her purse and Jabari walked out of the restroom.
“Where’s Daddy?” He looked at his mother.
She didn’t know how to answer that. Hell, she couldn’t answer that.
“He had to stay late for work tonight,” she lied.
“Oh, I hate his job. He’s never home,” Jabari said with a frown.
Faith thought about the music teacher again. “Well, did you have fun tonight?” she asked her son.
“Yeah,” he replied.
“Then that’s all that matters,” she said, and kissed him on his forehead.
“Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you my teacher wanted to know if I could join his baseball team this year.”
“Sure. I don’t see why not. That should be fun!” she told him.
“Yes! I’ll tell Mr. Hall in the morning!” he exclaimed.
“Who?” Faith asked to make sure she wasn’t hearing things.
“Mr. Hall, my music teacher. He has a little league baseball team. He’s my favorite teacher! Now you finally get to meet him!” Jabari said with lots of excitement.
Faith smirked and opened the car door for her son to climb inside. She had a feeling that she would be experiencing many more sleigh rides.
Coosawhatchie