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Untitled Story Chapter 4 It was already 8 p.m. when I made it home. Right after the final bell of the school day rang, I had an urgent teacher meeting that lasted 2 hours longer than the usual 2 hour meeting average. The enrollment and tuition for each student that was scheduled to attend the next year had been paid and recorded, and it was many less students than the number we taught now. Only 32 children were said to be attending my grade the next year, and that number of children, they said, can be effectively taught in 2 classes, by two teachers. I was the third and most recent installment in the first grade department, and I was the one who had to go. But dont worry, they implied, more might enroll within the next week, before the registering deadline. I'm sure they will, but not 20 more. So, in other terms....... I had been laid off. I sat my bag down and plopped in my love seat, with phone in tow. I pressed the speed dial key and then '1', and then waited for Valerie to answer her phone. "Hello?" "Hi Val." "Hey! What's up?" "I lost my job today." "What?!?!" "Well, I'll still finish out this school year, but come next fall, I'll be unemployed." "Jesus, why?" I began to explain the attendance issue with her, and pushed a certain Mr. Brian Littrell to the back of my mind. "I'm so sorry!" she said, sincerely. "Maybe you can find another teaching position by then?" "If I do, it will only be at a public school, and if I worked at a public school, I wouldn't make enough money for food, clothes, gas, and rent. I'd probably make the same amount as I would in some fast food place." I joked. We discussed a few employment options when I began to think about my job, and the kids.... and that reminded me of my conference I had earlier today. "Valerie, you will never in a billion years guess who I met today." "Who?" I grinned. "Remember a certain group of guys that called themselves the Backstreet Boys?" I asked, waiting for a reply. She groaned. "How can I forget?" she said, sarcastically. "Oh, come on, you know you loved them!" I said, remembering her obsession. "Yeah, LOVED being the keyword. Past tense." "Well, guess who I met today?" "Hmm...... I give up, who?" I told her who and I heard her let out a small gasp. "Uh-uh, no way. How'd you manage that?" "Well, remember that girl he dated, the one--" "The actress chick?" she cut me off. "Yeah." "Wasn't she the Yoko Ono?" Valerie joked. Back in our parents time, it was said that Yoko Ono, John Lennons wife, was to blame for the Beatles breakup, and when the Boys split, many had made that same assumption about Leigh Anne Wallace. I laughed. "If you believe that rumour, yeah." Valerie let out an evil laugh. "Okay, so, what about her? Him. Them. Whatever!" "Well, you know they had a kid, right?" "I think I heard something like that." "Well, the kids in my class." Valerie was silent for a second. "What?!?" she laughed. "You mean you're teaching Brians, you know, B-Roks, son?" "That's what I said!" Valerie laughed. "What's so funny?" I asked her. "I don't know! But this sure is funny as hell to me!" I just rolled my eyes. "Oh man, talk about a blast from the past. A real trip down memory lane." she joked. I just laughed. "What happened to all of those guys?" I asked her. "Hell if I know.... do I WANT to know?" I laughed, again. What a smart-ass. "Man, I haven't heard about those guys in...... seems like forever. Has got to have been at least six years since I've even thought about them. You know, I think I still have some old stuff from our high school days in the attic, I wonder if I still have any of their stuff." "I don't know, go check it out!" I told her. "Okay," she laughed. "Stay right here, I'll be back in a few minutes." "Okay." I wedged the phone between my shoulder and ear and slipped my modest low heels off, let my hair down, and unbuttoned a few of my top buttons on my blouse. I was about to get up and go into the kitchen to get something to drink when I heard a loud 'thud' on the other end of the phone line. "Okay, I'm back." Valerie said, breathless. "What was that noise?" I asked. "I.. threw... the box.... down the stairs. Very heavy." she said, laughing, while still trying to catch her breath. I shook my head. "Gee, I hope theres nothing breakable in that box." I replied, sarcastically. "Oh, shut up!" she yelled. I heard her grunt a few profanities while trying to pry into the taped up box and finally let out a 'Yes!!!' when she opened it up. "Hmmm.. lets see..... notebooks, text books, stolen library books, ha ha," she mumbled while browsing the box contents. "Um..... letters..... school papers..... here we go. A magazine. One of those dumb ass ones with the pictures and shit. January of 1999. Geez." "Who's in it?" "Hold on, I'm looking!" she paused. "Here we go. 'Win your night out with the Backstreet Boys', page 34." I heard her noisily flipping pages in the magazine. Then she began reading. "Win your night out with the Backstreet Boys--no, thanks--with an all expense paid trip to Orlando, Florida. Blah, blah, blah...........Ooh, heres something. Vital facts. Gee, nice picture, kid. Whats your name, I forgot." she said, talking, I presumed, to the picture. "Ah, Nick Carter. Nice shade of lip stick youre wearing there, Nick." she snorted. "Anyways." I sighed. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Where was I? Oh yeah.... Vital Facts. Brian Littrell. Age: 23. Birthplace: Lexington, Kentucky. Ooh, we got a farm boy here!" Val laughed. "Sign: Pisces. Birthdate: February 20, 1975. Okay, so he's........ he just turned, last month, my good Lord. He's 34." Val laughed. "Are you for real?" "That what this damn thing says!" "Nah, he didn't look 34." "Well, maybe he just aged--oops, I mean, MATURED, gracefully." "I'm not saying he's old, Val! He's only.... seven years older than us. I'm just saying he didn't look it and I'm in disbelief it was that long ago! You know?" "Yeah, yeah, I get what you're saying." she chuckled. "So, how old is this kid? Seven?" "Six." "Golly. I suddenly feel..... old." "Yeah, ditto." I agreed. We talked a bit longer and did some 'math'-he was 27 when he got married and the Backstreet Boys split up, 28 when he got the kid, and 30 when he got divorced. He's 34, A.J. is 31, Nick is 29, Kevin is 37, and Howie is 35. Damn.Next: Chapter 5 |