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“Miss Kelsey!” Laurie stomped.
“Miss Hamilton, you did not just stomp your foot at me.”
“But my hair.” Huge tears rolled down her face.
“We’ll fix it.”
“How?”
I shook my pink bag. “I have magic in this bag, but we’ll start with washing your hands too.”
She sighed dramatically and turned to the sink made for the crew of six and seven-year-olds that I had to wrangle daily. I winced at the glops of yogurt dripping down her hair and on the back of her uniform.
I started with paper towels for the worst of it and unclipped her pretty barrette. I’d wash that by hand. The ribbons were in a rainbow of colors with stars at the ends of each.
Princess wear in the extreme.
Knowing her mother as I did, they’d probably made it, for goodness sakes. “We’ll get most of it out and I’ll put your hair in a braid until you can get home and wash it. How’s that sound?”
Laurie hiccuped out a breath. “Okay.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“He put it in my hair on purpose!”
“Miss Hamilton…”
“He wasn’t s’posed to eat his snack yet. I told him. But he did not listen. And then there was slime in my hair!”
“Okay, okay. It’ll be fine. Nothing a little shampoo and the washer can’t fix. I promise.”
“Mama is going to be so sad. We just made the pretty princess clip.”
“I have it on good authority that your mom will be just fine. We’re going to fix it. I happen to be a professional washer of princess items.”
“You are?”
“I sure am.”
I glanced over at the class. Most were still busy with their worksheets, but there was a good handful of them craning their necks to see us. Especially the class snoop, Olivia.
“Miss Prince, are you done with your worksheet?” I called out.
“Yes, Miss Kelsey.”
Of course she was. Smart little stinker was always done first. “Then maybe you can help someone else quietly?”
I was taking my sanity into my hands by offering her up to the class at large, but I needed at least five more minutes. I got most of the stickiness out of Laurie’s hair and quickly plaited it into a braid that would hide the worst of the mess.
I attacked her uniform with water, Tide pen, and the hand dryer in the room. But the time I was done, Laurie was laughing. I took her hand and brought her back into the main classroom.
Wes was peeking in from the hallway.
I patted Laurie’s shoulder and told her to go back to her desk.
“You may all take out your snacks.” Everyone lifted the little hinged tops to their desks and took out their one snack item that was allowed out of their lunch bags.
It was much easier to keep them focused when they had a quick break. And it cut my day into thirds. Also very helpful.
