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“Again, with the way the world is these days, I can’t say I’m too surprised. I would have better peace of mind sending my kid to school if I knew they weren’t going to be subjected to strange people coming through the halls. I’m sure there would be a lot more abductions if that were to become a thing.”
“I don’t even want to think about it,” Harper said.
“Anyway, I’m going to get off the phone now and get that coffee. If I’m going to have the time to talk to you for a few minutes before I have to get back to the office, I better get going, or I’m not going to have the chance to say a thing,” I said.
“Hurry up, but not too fast. You don’t want to set a bad example for the rest of the community,” Harper warned.
“Because I’m sure so many people are basing the way they drive off the way I do,” I teased.
She teased me in return, then we hung up the phone. I still felt on top of the world as I drove to a nearby coffee shop and ordered her a pumpkin spice. It wasn’t a drink I cared for myself, and I didn’t mind making fun of the people who did drink it on my social media every season. But, when it came to Harper wanting to have one, I would have happily spiced the pumpkin myself.
I got myself a white chocolate mocha, then I headed over to the school. I called Harper when I got into the parking lot so she could come out, making sure I didn’t do anything that would leave any of the other kids or their parents feeling uncomfortable. I didn’t want to see anyone but Harper anyway, so if she came out to get the coffee from me, I was okay with that.
But, Harper had other ideas. She came out to get the coffee, alright, but she wasn’t about to leave it at that. She wanted me to come in with her after all, and, more than that, she wanted me to get involved in teaching the kids.
“You could talk to them about what you do. I mean, think about it. With cancer being so common in the world, it might do them some good to hear about it from a doctor. It’s going to be easier to teach them what you do when you don’t have to worry about them being traumatized about losing a loved one, right?” she asked.
I sighed. She did have a point. It wasn’t like kids learned a thing about cancer or any other illness until they were being faced with losing a family member, and if we did more to talk about things like that before it came to the point of someone dying, then it might help the kids who did have to go through that in their lives.
Anything I could do that would help someone understand something – or deal with something – easier because of me, I wanted to do it. Not to mention if I stayed to talk to Harper’s class for some extra time, it would get me out of the office and still let me spend some time with Harper. I would get paid for doing what I wanted to do with my time anyway.
Since there was no other way I would find myself getting paid to hang out with the number one person in my life right now, I thought this could be a way for me to manage to hang out with her longer than I would be able to otherwise, but to also make it look like I was doing it for the greater good.
There was only one problem.
“How do you want me to talk about cancer with a bunch of little kids without it being traumatizing in itself?” I asked.
“Keep it family friendly,” she said. “Trust me, you think your job is hard with the things you have to talk about with people, try being a teacher. You get kids who don’t have close relationships with their parents coming to you to explain things to them that you never really thought about yourself before. You might even be the one who starts playing the role of the parent in some cases. You never know.”
“That is why you are the one who is cut out for this and I am not,” I said.
“Oh come on, you are the hero here. You save lives on the daily. I’m just in here playing with kids all day,” she said.
“You are in here raising up the next generation, and I’m telling you right now, if we had more people who knew how kids worked like you do rather than just getting rid of them so you can go to work for the day, we would have an entirely different generation of adults coming up. That is when we would see more change in the world.”
“And maybe that’s something you want to bring up when you talk to the kids about taking care of themselves this afternoon,” Harper said with a smile. She gave me a nod into the school, and I sighed once more.
“You really want me to come in there, don’t you?”
“It would help me out a lot,” she said. “I don’t have much of a lesson plan going this afternoon, and I have some paperwork I need to catch up on. The fact that you are here in your doctor outfit is enough to keep them entertained for an hour or so. If you throw into that talking about being a doctor and the things we can do that will keep us healthy, you might give me more time than I thought I was going to get to catch up.”
“Alright, alright,” I said with a final sigh of resignation. I knew it was pointless to argue with her further now that she had her mind made up. She wasn’t going to let me just walk away from her with what she had to do, and I really wasn’t trying to get away, either.
I didn’t have that much to do at the office myself that afternoon, and I could easily take the day off and not have to even think twice about it. But, I did have to let Nick know.
“I’m going to text work and let them know I’m not going to be back until later this afternoon, then I’ll come in and whip up something I can talk to them about for a few hours,” I said.
“You are the best,” Harper said.
She raised herself onto the tips of her toes and planted a kiss on my cheek. She then sipped on her straw as she turned and walked into the school, giving me a look that told me to follow.
With a smile, I headed after her.
It had been quite some time since I had talked in front of a room full of people, and it didn’t help me much knowing that these were kids. But then, they did all think doctors were cool. At least, it was pretty standard for kids to like doctors.
I could go in there and talk for a while, answer a few questions and move on with my day feeling like I actually went above and beyond for the community today rather than just being in my office.
But, I was mostly doing this for Harper.
