Goodbye….

Mr. Paul had been giving Jasmine a world of encouragement and she, she loved every bit of it.

On this Friday morning Mr. Paul walked in with his upper buried between both levels of teeth.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Paul?”, Jasmine immediately inquired before he could even near the whiteboard that he ritually wrote on as the tiny class of what was going to be three students finished shuffling in.

“Jazz… I need to share something with the class.”

Mr. Paul now looked out & caught a sense of how students were feeling. He examined their posture and stood tall with hands clasped behind his back.

“Let me just jump into it…. …. Ummm…. I want you all to know that I really care about you…. …. … You know that, of course…”.

Then, he looked at each student …. Jasmine had the longest expression & although she could hardly hold her head up, she did.

She looked at him. “Uhhhh, what is it?” She blurted with an urgency.

“Well…. “.

“I am struggling to get this out …”. Feeling as if his feet were stuck, he propelled himself forward and shared, “I took a new teaching job”.

All eyes sunk to the floor. Mr. Paul stopped. The room grew quiet & now…. He let his eyes dart left.

“Yeah, I’m going to be moving. …”. He felt a punch straight into his chest and the gut absorbed the blow.

“Goodness….” …. “Does anyone want to say anything? … or shall we take some quiet time for writing now?..”

“Awkward, terrible and really, really …. Hard to think about leaving ….

Also…. I am so proud of each of you.

I’m so amazed by your spirit.”

By now the moisture that often swelled around the windows of the school area was completely mimicking that of each student in the room. They’d grown tired, not immune to adults leaving them.

They hated this … hated it & wanted to never hear those words for as long as they breathed.

“Ohhhh…. …”

A sigh of dread was a synchronous chorus that passed through the room, collapsing on Mr. Paul, sounded by the students.