Annika stood in the middle of the room and clapped out a pattern. Mayhem continued. She clapped it out again. A couple of children copied her. She did it again, and some of the crying stopped and a few more children answered. She did it again and again, until all of the children answered her and the crying had stopped. She continued the pattern as she went to the closet and pulled out a colorful parachute. She handed each child a part of it, until they all stood in a circle, and then she engaged them in play.

“Ms. Mehta.”

Annika snapped to attention as the principal entered the room.

“Mrs. Colter,” she addressed the principal, “if you would be so kind as to escort our parents to the cafeteria for a coffee break, the children and I have some regrouping to do.” Many of the parents were reluctant to allow Annika to do anything with their children, but the principal seemed to have decided to give Annika a chance to regain her classroom, and she encouraged the parents to come with her. Annika saw the disappointment in their eyes and in the set of their mouths. She did her best to ignore it all.

As the principal left, she whispered to Annika, “We called to tell you your father is here.”

Annika snapped her head to the principal. “He was here?”

“He’s still here.”

Annika nodded. “I can’t come now.”

The principal nodded. “Of course.”

“Bring the parents back in ten minutes.”

The principal nodded.

It was in that moment that Annika made eye contact with Mitch’s mother. She wished she hadn’t. The look of disappointment and disgust on the woman’s face was enough to have Annika curling up into a ball on the floor herself. Instead, she felt the old hospital band in her pocket, plastered a smile on her face, found her happiest singsong voice and turned to her class.

“Okay, who’s ready to run under the parachute?”

In a clattering of shoes and grumbled mutterings, the parents left with the principal as she regained control over her classroom.

By the time the principal returned with the parents, the children were so engaged in their work they hardly noticed the reentry of their parents. Annika immersed herself in teaching the children and was barely aware of the parental presence herself.

Thankfully, today was a half day, and when the morning finally ended, the children went home with their parents. It took Annika close to an hour to straighten up her classroom, after which she worked on mid-year assessments.

It was late afternoon before she remembered that her father had been at the school. She called him.

He answered on the first ring.

“Papa? I heard you were at the school today. Is everything okay?”

“Yes, I came to see what you did.” His voice was clipped.

“Uh-huh.” She wasn’t going to ask. She didn’t need to.