On Ellicott Street by Davee Jones

As Cassie drove to the school, her blood boiled. It was the third time in a month her son, Joshua, had caused trouble. “He will be lucky if that principal doesn’t expel him!” she muttered under her breath. Her thoughts were muddled so she turned off the radio to shut out the excess distractions. She needed to clear her mind before she talked with the principal about the consequences her son faced.

As a single mom, she hated to think of how an expulsion would leave her child home alone. He would learn nothing from the incident and believe it was some sort of vacation. Cassie thought of what she did at his age, fifteen, and she remembered living quite differently. She made good grades, played on the school’s basketball team, boys were an afterthought, and she rarely disobeyed. Growing up in the Bible Belt, one did not have much choice. “But, obviously, times have changed.” Cassie sighed heavily several times as she reflected on her situation.

However, as she contemplated the situation, she realized she never really lived either. She continued on to college, got married, and had four kids. Then when her husband tired of their monotony, he stumbled out of monogamy, and they divorced. Her ex-husband moved to a city a few hours away and she only saw him when they exchanged the children for visitation. It hurt her because he acted as if she never had existed in his life. Now that they shared only one minor, she saw him even less.

He enjoyed his new freedoms too much, in her opinion.

Now, Cassie was forty-six years old, and she had the occasional gray hair to prove it. She envied her ex-husband because he seemed to find the life she never knew she wanted. He loved their children, yet, he found ways to enjoy his personal life as well. He took time for private moments and made no apologies.

She decided his sex life had also improved after he left their bed. Each time she saw him, he smiled slyly, almost contentedly. On one occasion, he even callously admitted her suspicions. “You know, Cass, an active sex life has done wonders for me. You should try it.”

As if she would try it—Cassie might as well not have a bedroom door because for seven years it had not been shut except to wrap birthday and Christmas gifts. With whom would she have this blazing love affair? Further, did she really want to risk the effort?

Cassie arrived at the school and took a deep breath before she got out of her car. Tears threatened her eyes as she suddenly realized the sadness she felt. She allowed a few tears to flow to avoid a runny nose, then wiped her eyes and marched into the principal’s office.

When the principal seated her, Cassie realized Joshua was not in the office with them. “Doesn’t he need to be in here so we can discuss the problem?” Cassie asked tersely.

The principal smiled, demonstrating infinite patience with Cassie. “I want to talk with you for a bit before we bring him in, do you mind?”

“Whatever.” Cassie’s immature nature took over her side of the conversation.

“Look, I know Joshua is a good kid; I want to help him. I think he needs a new activity to boost his self-esteem.” The principal studied Cassie’s face for any indication of cooperation as he continued. “Joshua’s main problem is acting out in class. He takes control away from the teacher by making jokes or snide remarks. It’s become a damaging and time-consuming trend on our part to maintain order in some of his classes. This is the third time this month he really got out of hand.” The principal sighed before he emphasized his final observations. “It’s beginning to rub off on some of the other students, and we cannot have that.”

“I’m not sure I follow you.” Cassie wanted to smack the smile right off the principal’s face. She was not in the mood for bargain bin counseling, or condescension. “What are you offering as a solution to what appears to be Joshua’s complete disrespect of authority?”

“We have a new program affiliated with the local community college. It’s called Channels. I would like to nominate Joshua as one of the first high school participants.” The principal got straight to the point to appease Cassie’s mounting irritation.

The thought of any assistance with Joshua intrigued Cassie. “Wow, this is not the discussion I expected to have with you, but I’m willing to hear more.” The principal used the next several minutes to eagerly describe the inaugural program in depth to Cassie.

The program essentially modeled a Big Brothers/Big Sisters type system. However, in the case of this arrangement, a college student received Humanities Credits for successfully partnering with a high school student struggling with their grades, behavior, or any other difficulties adjusting to secondary school. Cassie agreed to talk with Joshua and complete the paperwork later that night at home. She just hoped that Joshua would be as willing to try the program as she was.