School Days

Sitting at our large, wooden farm table in the kitchen, I pull out my pre-calculus book. We’re on chapter 10. I push aside the blue cloth napkin, the round plate, the fork and knife and spoon. When I’ve cleared a space for homework, I take out a piece of loose leaf notepaper and my pencil with the huge pink eraser.

My mom walks in the kitchen and peers over my shoulder. “Where’s Scott?”

“He had a meeting after school,” I say and bend over my textbook to begin problem 1.

On problem 3 my brother Greg opens the refrigerator looking for an after school snack.

“Where’s Scott?” he says.

Everyone is asking because Scott is my high school boyfriend and he helps me with pre-calculus everyday. He’s so smart I call him Doogie Howser.

I tell Greg that Scott isn’t coming.

Adam, my other brother, walks in the kitchen when I’m on Problem 5.

“Where’s Scott?” he says.

“He’s up your butt and to the left!” I say. And then I laugh and tell him that no one thinks I can do my math homework without Scott. Adam laughs too and walks upstairs.

About ten minutes later he skids on his tube socks into the kitchen. “I have bad news, Jenny,” he says.

“What’s that?”

“I just pooped Scott out and flushed him down the toilet.”

Ha, ha, ha. My family has laughed about Adam’s joke for years (“poor Scott” we always say). I still think of this story from time to time (obviously, since I’m blogging about it). And I’m thinking of it again today because Scott was good at math, but I was good at English. I helped him with his college admission essay to Virginia Tech.

I can’t believe what happened with the shooting today. Scott graduated from college long ago, so my connection to Virginia Tech is pretty weak. But there is a connection, however small, and it’s amazing how that personal link shakes me up so much more. In an instant death can take anyone, anywhere. Watching Planet Earth last night, I scribbled down this quote: “The margin between life and death is as thin as the water’s surface.”

My thoughts and prayers are with the students, employees, faculty, and their families.