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Now I got her.
Her eyes flutter everywhere, thinking deeply, and she brings a hand to her mouth and begins to chew on her knuckles.
“I dunno,” she finally says, shrugging.
“It’shee-haw!” I say, grinning from ear to ear, “Now you say it!”
“Hee-haw!” she says, “Hee-haw! Hee-haw!”
I quit filming and send it to Mr. Bardin the very next second. Anna, on the other hand, doesn’t stop hee-hawing, not even when I strap her into her car seat.
I let it be. She’ll either get tired of it soon, or her father will get to hear it firsthand when he gets home later today. Come to think of it, it’s better not to risk making him even more impatient or moody than he already is, so I try to dissuade her with some small talk.
“Where do you want to go today?” I ask.
“Let’s go get ice cream!” she says with enthusiasm.
“But just once a week is your daddy’s rule!”
She immediately replies with an “Aaawn!” then crosses her arms and frowns hard, angry with me.
It’s not going to last.
“How about we go visit Aunt Jane?” I suggest and wait to see her reaction.
She beams, arms uncrossing and face un-frowning.
“Really?” she asks in wide-eyed disbelief.
“Really, Anna,” I say with a smile.
Jane’s workplace is not that far from Anna’s school. It’s a center for after school activities. They have all kinds of classes, ranging from teaching different languages to archery. Jane works in administration, helping with everything from enrolling new students to solving random day to day issues.
I park the car, unstrap Anna from the car seat, and walk into the building with her, hand in hand. We check in at the front desk, and after they call Jane to announce we are here, we are let in after a minute or two. I’ve been here before, but only vaguely remember where her office is.
We walk down several hallways before I figure out where to go, but Anna doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she wants to stop and look inside every classroom we pass, especially the art classes.
“Do you want to come study here after school?” I ask Anna, and her eyes shine bright with all the possibilities.
“Can I?” she says,
“We can talk to your father,” I say, smiling. “Come on, let’s go see your aunt!”
Now she’s the one guiding me by the hand, walking ahead of me as if she knows where she is going.
When we get to Jane’s office, she is already waiting for us with her head poking out into the hallway. She gives us a big smile and wave when she sees us.
“What a fun surprise!” she says, opening her arms and crouching down to get to Anna’s level.
Anna runs to her, giving Jane a huge hug. It makes me want to snap a picture and send it to Mr. Bardin, but I remember my recent conversation with him and contain myself.
Looking at my phone, I see that Mr. Bardin has watched the earlier video, but didn’t say anything. Even though I’m not surprised, I’m still disappointed.
“Come in, don’t stay outside or the hall monitor is going to bite us in the ass! Let’s just say he takes his jobwaytoo seriously,” Jane says, urging us into her office.
“Ooooo,ass!” Anna says, immediately causing me to feel a huge amount of concern.
“Don’t go repeating that word in front of your father, okay?” I beg of her.
