My life these days seems to be a relative state of tired. Am I totally exhausted, partially exhausted, or just in my usual coma? Tonight I am totally exhausted, approaching comatose. I think a Calgon experience is in my future tonight. Tomorrow I have my massage scheduled. It was supposed to coincide with a Parks and Recreation class for Beth, but that class was canceled due to not enough kids. I’m not sure what I will do with Beth …


Good thing it wasn’t today or I would have had to find a place for BOTH girls. Dora started the morning off with a somewhat ugly attitude, speaking to me disrespectfully. I told her that would not do … she was not to talk to me that way. She responded she just wouldn’t talk … I said that would be just fine. Therefore, we were not communicating as she was meandering around here, clueless about the time. We still weren’t talking as she was lazily brushing her teeth and as I heard the school bus go by the house and stop at its usual spot. She sauntered through my office and leisurely lifted her backpack as she headed out the door … and THEN she spied the bus. But by now, it was heading the other direction, almost out of the subdivision. She waved at it and it was clear she thought the driver would stop … but he didn’t. I pretended not to notice and went back to my computer. She stood on the driveway for about five minutes and then came inside, indignantly stating she had missed the bus and he was pulling away just as she went outside. I said nothing, and she marched, of her own accord, to the kitchen. Beth was there, and Dora said she had waved at the driver and shouted, but he didn’t wait, and then Dora told Beth she would “just spend the day at the kitchen table!”


Who am I to argue with a plan? Since I had already been told Dora was not planning to talk to me, and since Dora informed Beth that she would park at the table, I just let those plans unfold. I had an errand I had planned to do, and I had also planned that on the way back from my errand, Beth and I would get my favorite lunch—TCBY. I called a neighbor to babysit my “ghost” and my neighbor dutifully arrived, bearing her laptop. She worked in my office and Dora continued to sit. No dialog occurred between the two of them.


We returned about noon, not needing any lunch. Beth resumed her schoolwork, and I resumed the research I am doing for an article I need to write. Our “quiet” little ghost continued to shuffle papers, pound the keys of her calculator, drop books on the floor, and do whatever else she could do except speak. It didn't bother me in the least. Finally, about 2 PM, she inquired about lunch. It was the first time she had spoken to me since morning. I told her with much empathy that the lunch hour had passed, but when it was normal “after school snack time” I would find something for her. I then asked how she might better have handled her day? She said, “Ask you to take me to school.” I said, “Yup!” and that was the extent of our dialog at that moment.


I deemed today an “early release day” about an hour before Dora would normally arrive home, and about an hour after she asked for lunch. I fixed her a snack (which she devoured like a war refugee) and we went walking after that, given that she had not had any exercise today. During our walk, I asked her what she was thinking … and she said, “About my day.” I said, “What did you decide?” She said, “That it wasn’t very good, and I didn’t make very good choices.”


“That would be true,” I said, “But tomorrow is another day!”


There have been several previous discussions about how I don’t automatically provide rides to school for kids who miss the bus, especially kids with snarky attitudes who pay no attention to the time. Usually filling a few bags of manure is the required ticket for the special-service bus. I guess Dora wasn’t interested in that barter, so she sat at the table instead. I did, of course, inform the school, and indicated I didn’t consider Dora’s absence to be excused. Her teacher concurred, and there will be more consequences to pay when she returns to school and must make up the additional work. And so it goes …


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