Read Online Play Dates by Leslie Carroll - Free Book Online Page A

concentrate? How are people expected to . . . ?
    Oops.
    Braving forty dirty looks, I reach down and plunge my hand into my purse, which is vibrating noisily, if melodically, at the base of my chair.
    I flip open the phone and answer it. “Hello . . . ?”
    It’s Mrs. Hennepin. I feel my stomach clench. “Is something wrong?” Of course something’s wrong, Claire, or she wouldn’t be calling you in the middle of the school day. “Is Zoë all right?”
    “Yes, she is, Ms. Marsh. Physically, anyway. I’d like you to come over to the school for a conference. Right away, in fact. I know you’re not working now, so—”
    I try to keep my voice down. “Can’t we speak at the end of the day when I come to pick her up?” I look down at my test.
    There are a hundred and fifty questions and I’m on number sixty-three. “I’m kind of in the middle of something right now.”

    50
    Leslie Carroll
    The test monitor approaches my chair. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to take that outside,” the civil servant says.
    “Oh, right. I’m so sorry.” I get up from my chair, while I’m still listening to Mrs. Hennepin explain why she needs to speak to me sooner rather than later. The kids just went into Ms.
    Bland’s art class and then they’ve got science with Mrs. Peabo, so she’s got a couple of hours free while her charges are in the hands of the specialty teachers.
    I’ve got the phone nestled in the crook of my neck, my purse on my shoulder and I grab the test with my left hand and start to leave the room.
    “You can’t take the test with you,” the monitor says. “You gotta leave that in the room.”
    “But I’m not finished.”
    “Don’t matter to me. You can’t take the test outside the room. That’s the rules.”
    “But how am I supposed to . . . ?” The monitor shushes me and cautions me to keep my voice down. I’m disturbing the other test takers. “See, my daughter’s teacher is on the phone. I’m not trying to cheat, if that’s what you mean, and this is not a social call, it’s—”
    “I don’t care what it is,” the monitor interrupts. “But you can’t be bringing the paper outside this room.” This formidable young woman definitely takes her job very seriously. She means business and I get the feeling that if I cross her, she’ll put me in a headlock, if necessary. Or sit on me.
    My stomach is tying itself in bigger knots and Mrs. Hennepin is still on the phone calling into her end, “Ms. Marsh? Are you there?”
    “So, what am I supposed to do?”
    “Are you talking to me?” I hear Mrs. Hennepin ask.
    “It’s up to you,” the monitor says. “You can finish the test. Or you can talk to your friend—”
    “I told you, this isn’t my friend!” I say, shaking the cell phone at her. “It’s my daughter’s second-grade teacher.”
    “I don’t care if it’s the President of the U-nited States. You PLAY DATES
    51
    wanna take the call, you take it outside this room. And you can come back and take the test again on another day.”
    “Then I have to pay the fee again, don’t I?”
    The monitor nods. “Every time you take the test, you gotta pay.” I frown. What a rip-off. “Hey, girl, don’t you look at me like that. I don’t make the rules. And you gotta leave the room or everyone here’s gonna file a complaint against me. I got four mouths to feed. I can’t afford to be losing my job.”
    And I can’t afford not to have one either, but Zoë takes precedence over everything. I tell Mrs. Hennepin I’m on my way, snap the phone shut and rip my partially completed test into strips, dumping it into the waste paper basket on my way out the door. Oh, well. So much for knowing what avenue was once known as “Swedish Broadway.”

    Chapter 4
    To save some money, I take the subway up to Thackeray. A cab from the Battery would have cost me well over ten dollars. We need that for groceries. A monthly Metrocard is a godsend for people on a tight budget. You buy the