Page 3 of Bring me Back
“You’re a woodwork teacher, Dan. You’re not shaping the minds of the youth of today.”
“Thanks,” I said without paying much attention to his dig.
“Are you ready to go back to class?”
“Three hundred gel pens and all.”
Mark laughed. What I did could barely count as class time. My classes were taught over the benches. It was considered an escape. A class with low expectations and rock music playing in the background. Most days, I forgot I was still inside school grounds until the bell rang.
“School year is about to start and I know your excuses, Dan,” my brother started.
“Do you?” I held my phone between my cheek and shoulder and grabbed the remote, trying to find something good to watch.
“Sure do. Every time I ask about dates and real life, you bullshit me about work and the damn theater. You hide September to June.”
“Hmmm…”
“No joke, Dan. You need to put yourself out there…” and he whispered the next part. “Don’t you miss being with someone?”
I chuckled, finding a good movie. I was five seconds away from hanging up on Mark.
“Is that your family man way of asking me if I’m fucking?”
“Fuck…” he grumbled.
“Mom, daddy said a bad word!”I heard April snitching.
“Snitches get stitches, April!” Mark hissed.
I chuckled, “I’m fine, Mark. Stop listening to mom and doing her dirty work. You’re almost forty, it is a little ridiculous.”
“I’m not mom’s errand boy.”
“Sounds like it.”
“I worry.”
“Well, you shouldn’t.”
I almost heard his gulp as he asked, “Are you?”
“Worried?” I cracked my knuckles. “No.”
“No…” he inhaled. “Are you…” a little pause. “Seeing someone?”
I rested my back on the couch, wondering when my big brother became a teenage girl asking about my business over the phone.
“It was nice to talk to you, Mark. Send my love to Abby and the girls.”
“Dan…”
But I didn’t let him finish. I hung up and pressed play on the movie. Worried or not, I had to draw the line somewhere.
Avoiding Mark’s calls for the next two weeks, I concentrated on finishing a set of new chairs for my kitchen and drawing up options for Helen’s play. But now that my projects were finished, the walls of my home started to close in on me again. I was ready to be back at school full time.
When the first day back finally arrived, I parked my car at the staff’s parking lot and headed straight to the theater. My first class was second period and I wanted to catch Helen before the first day craziness. Even with my altered plans for the set, I had a suspicion we’d need extra money.
“You can take anything you want!” Helen was at the downstage center, arms open like she was coordinating the world.