by Simmons, Pat
“How embarrassing.” Candace groaned as she eyed the machines monitoring her heart and blood pressure. Turning her head away, she began to cry. “God, will I ever overcome this? I had no business…”
“Stop it, Candace Clark! There was nothing anybody could have done to avoid it, except Tommy and we know children think the world revolves around them. I am not the one for a pity party today.” Solae lowered her voice. “Don’t take on burdens that aren’t yours. God knew this was going to happen. Tommy learned a lesson and I believe Jesus is teaching you one.”
Candace sniffed as Solae embraced her in a consoling hug.
“Stop torturing yourself,” Solae whispered. “Daniel was a baptized believer. He died in Christ and will rise with Him in the rapture. Your late husband is resting until that trumpet sounds, so he’s okay. I know Daniel would want you to be okay, too.”
God always gave Solae words of wisdom beyond her years when Candace needed them. “You’re right. No invites to a pity party.” Candace mustered up a smile.
Sitting on the bed, Solae closed her eyes and began to pray. “Jesus, my sister needs You. Lord, mend her heart. Give her the victory over fear, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
“And shut the devil out,” they said in unison whenever they prayed together.
Opening their eyes, they smiled as the doctor walked into the room. “Miss Clark, your EKG came back fine and so did your blood work. I think you just experience shock. I suggest you go home and get some rest.”
Half an hour later, Candace was discharged and Solae drove her home.
“What about my car? I need to get Lindsay and call about a replacement for a crossing guard. I’m sure I’m fired now.”
“I will get Lindsay, call the principal and take you to get your car in the morning. You’ve had enough excitement for one day.”
Candace didn’t argue as she closed her eyes and lay back on the headrest. Thank God for girlfriends. Solae was irreplaceable.
Once they were at her two bedroom bungalow, Solae made sure she got under the covers, then called the school and spoke with the principal. Since she was already on the list, there wouldn’t be a problem with her picking up Lindsay.
“Mrs. Lovejoy said to get your rest, and she’ll do the crossing guard duties this afternoon.”
Candace burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Solae chuckled along.
Laughing felt good after the morning she’d had, so Candace let her amusement run its course while holding her stomach. “Mrs. Lovejoy is barely taller than some of the middle school students. You think we can do a drive by this afternoon so I can watch her try and stop traffic?”
“Absolutely not!” Solae waggled her finger and then kissed her cheek before leaving.
Candace closed her eyes and snugged under her cover. She giggled, thinking about Mrs. Lovejoy doing a job she was bent on Candace doing.
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries the bones, the Lord whispered Proverbs 17:22. My joy comes in the morning.
“Thank You, Lord,” Candace mumbled as she drifted off to sleep with a smile.
***
“Mommy, you’re coming to my class this morning, right?” Lindsay asked as Candace ushered her out the house. Opening the car door, Candace frowned as Lindsay climbed into the back, then proudly clicked her belt on the booster seat herself.
“Why, sweetie?” she asked double-checking it.
“Mommies and daddies are coming and tell us about their jobs.”
Candace chuckled. “Oh, honey, there is nothing exciting about Mommy’s job.” She sat behind the wheel and adjusted the mirror. Your daddy had an exciting job–product designer. That man had a talent for sketching. Of course, there’s no sense in bringing that up. Daniel is gone.
“But you stop the cars, so you’re the boss. My friends say you’re nice and pretty…”
There had been one car she couldn’t stop. It had been more than a week since Tommy’s accident. When the images attempted to replay in Candace’s mind, she rebuked them and shut the devil out. Candace thought the school might remove her from her position. Under any other circumstances Candace would have rejoiced, but Mrs. Lovejoy assured her no one faulted her for Tommy’s horseplay that resulted in his broken leg.
Lindsay continued to rattle on as she bounced from topic to topic for almost the entire drive. “Okay, Mommy?”
“Hmm-mm,” Half-listening, Candace answered absentmindedly. Minutes later, she pulled into a vacant space and parked.
“Yay!” Lindsay clapped her hands. She displayed a missing tooth smile and she unfastened her belt once Candace opened the back door.
Keeping her daughter at her side, she retrieved her stop sign and vest from the trunk.
“Yay what, young lady?” She laughed as she lifted her daughter’s backpack off the seat. Holding onto Lindsay’s arm, Candace watched her daughter leap off the inside edge of the car to the ground.
“You’re coming to my class.”
“Baby, I’ve already explained to you that my job isn’t something I can show and tell. I don’t wear a uniform or anything,” she said, slipping on her red vest. Plus, how much of a positive role model could she be after what happened?
“But Mommy, your stop sign is a uniform because it helps you do your job. You said you were coming.” Lindsay’s pouty lips worked every time.
“I’ll come, but as soon as I do my presentation I have to get to work. Okay, young lady?” She squatted to be eye level with her, thinking about the time she would have to makeup.
Lindsay bobbed her head. Candace lifted a brow, letting her daughter know that was not an acceptable form of communication. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good.” Taking a deep breath, Candace walked to the light. Lindsay skipped alongside her. With more diligence and prayer, she refused to have a repeat of another accident on her watch.
***
Royce moaned at the annoying noise as he rolled over in his bed. If it wasn’t the shriek of an emergency alarm, he wasn’t budging. When the irritating sound of his phone ceased, Royce grinned without opening one eye, then snuggled deeper into his pillow. He couldn’t resist the fresh scent of his fabric softener.
Surrendering to the lull of a deep sleep, Royce relaxed at the same moment his cell phone rang. The theme to Superman chime jolted him awake, identifying the caller. What did Hershel want?
Snarling, Royce reached across the bed for his cell phone on the night stand. It fell on the carpet. He fumbled for it. When he had it within his grip, he barked into the phone, “In case you forgot, this is my day off. O-F-F….unless the engine station is on fire literally…”
“I know. I’m really sorry, but I need a big favor.”
Royce’s eyelids fluttered closed. Drifting, he slurred, “Sorry, they’re on backorder.”
“Listen, bro, I need a favor. I’m still at work. We had a long night in Jefferson County with a meth lab, but listen. Today is career day at Brandon’s school. You know my boy. He’s been bragging about fire prevention. Do me a favor and play firefighter and go wow the kids for me.”
“Isn’t that what the firefighters ‘on duty’ do as part of their community awareness, not the off duty firefighter who needs rest and was in the middle of a dream and…” he mumbled.
“You must be brain sleep. You’ve been pining over that crossing guard for more than a week.”
“Correction, I’ve been praying for her. I was just concerned,” he defended.
“Earth to Royce. You might catch her if you go to the school…”
Finally putting two and two together, Royce sprang up in bed instantly alert. “I can’t disappoint my nephew.” He glanced at the clock as he tussled with his covers. “Okay.”
Royce leaped out of bed as if he was about to respond to a four alarm fire. “Bye.” Racing into his bathroom, Royce blinked at his reflection in the mirror. “Great.” He needed a shave, but it wasn’t happening that morning if he was g
oing to get to Duncan School in time to see the crossing guard.
Royce showered, then hurried to his basement, hoping and praying that he had some leftover safety packets for handouts. Although the firefighting gear was at the station, Royce had an old helmet and jacket. He would have to forgo the boots. Grabbing everything within reach, he made the trip to his car.
His heart pounded at the anticipation. He was almost at Duncan Elementary school when sirens from EMS forced him to momentarily pull over. When he arrived, the crossing guard and children were nowhere in sight.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Once Candace located a spot in the school’s main parking lot, she called her boss and explained the last minute surprise.
“That’s not a problem, as long as you make up the missed time,” her supervisor, Mr. Hawkins said.
Anticipating his response, Candace had already worked out an option. “I know we’re backlogged with follow-up calls. If I can bring Lindsay back to work with me this afternoon, I can make it up today. I can also send her home with Solae.”
“That’s doable. As you know, we are a family friendly business. Do whatever you need to do so long as neither home, nor work suffers,” he advised.
“Yes sir.” Candace nodded as if her supervisor could see her, thanking him. She checked her watch. Career Day had already started. She silently prayed that the children wouldn’t think she was a fraud because of what happened.
With a sigh, Candace stepped out of her car and smoothed out the wrinkles in her simple jade colored dress and reached for her stop sign. As she stretched across the seat, she heard a rip and it didn’t come from her undersized underwear—it was her new pair of pantyhose.
“Great, a run.” She gritted her teeth in frustration. How awkward would it be to stand in front of a class of children and other professionals with a hole, resembling a spider’s web that stretched with each movement? She checked both legs—nothing yet. Hopefully, it would stay at its position until she finished her presentation.
Carefully walking, Candace entered the building and stopped at the school office to sign in and get a guest badge for career day. Mrs. Lovejoy waved. She continued to measure her stride down the hall to Lindsay’s classroom.
She felt foolish breezing into a classroom in a worn safety vest and carrying stop sign as if she had invented it, like African-American inventor Garrett Morgan with the traffic light. Outside Mrs. Davis’ kindergarten room, Candace peeped inside. Lindsay’s teacher was already making introductions as she quietly opened the door.
“Excellent. I see another parent has arrived.” The teacher clasped her hands in appreciation. “Lindsay would you like to introduce your mother?”
Lindsay bobbed her head and stood. “My Mommy is the best crossing guard in the whole world,” she said proudly and retook her seat.
Candace’s heart warmed. Her daughter would always be her number one fan. She glanced at the other participants. There was a nurse, wearing a white wingtip hat and a man in scrubs represented the medical field. Another woman held colorful ballet shoes in her hands—probably a dancer or instructor. At the end of the line was a firefighter. Candace shivered under his gaze. He looked somewhat familiar, but she had never met him. Self-consciously, she wondered if he was making fun of her “profession”.
Despite his scrutiny of her, she had to pull her eyes away from him. Bulging muscles outlined his polo uniform shirt. Candace had never seen such a handsome man, even more so than her husband Daniel, and he was good-looking.
Re-directing her attention to the man in the scrubs who happened to be an anesthesiologist, Candace couldn’t shake the feeling that the firefighter was still watching her.
“It’s very important that I monitor the mixture of medication so that the heart beat…”
Although Dr. Whitman’s career was impressive, the children seemed to have blank expressions. Even the man’s son appeared bored. Candace barely understood some of the terms he rattled off and she had an undergraduate degree in liberal arts from Fontbonne University in St. Louis. That’s why the new position at Kendall Printing was important. With a promotion she would actually be using her marketing degree to grow her income.
Mrs. Davis gave the doctor a signal that his time was up. Everyone, including the teacher, sighed in relief before she encouraged her class to clap. Candace was surprised that the teacher gestured for her to go next.
Already? Clearing her throat, Candace took baby steps, mindful of her run, to be front and center of the students. She relaxed as several children waved at her. Smiling, she waved back, warmed by their acceptance.
“Good morning, class. Many of you already know me. I’m Miss Clark, Lindsay’s mother.”
One girl in the back raised her hand. “You help us cross the street every day.”
“Yes, I do.” Candace nodded. “Besides looking both ways, always make sure you’re standing at a corner. After you push the button to walk, wait until all cars and trucks stop before stepping off the curb.”
She briefly thought about her husband. If only he had followed protocol and waited. The driver never slowed down, even after hitting Daniel, then dragging him for several feet. Candace definitely didn’t want to scare them with those details. Many bystanders had witnessed Tommy’s accident.
“You have a stop sign, Mommy. You can make the cars stop.” Lindsay added when Candace’s mind played the flashback.
“Children, wait until each guest is finished before you ask any questions,” Mrs. Davis kindly reminded the class although it was only her daughter who had violated the rule.
“Thank you,” Candace whispered and then continued. “The street can be a scary place…”
“Tommy got hurt,” that statement came from a student in the back.
Candace took a deep breath. Although she didn’t want to take the blame, she didn’t want to put it on Tommy, either. “Thank God Tommy is okay. That’s why you never play in the streets or near them. Always wait for your crossing guard to give you the signal when it’s safe to cross.”
She did her best to give helpful hints, considering she didn’t prepare anything. Candace finished and more hands flew up.
“How do you get the sign to flash?” a boy in the front row asked seriously.
Another child followed up. “Can you dance?”
“Yes, but not in the streets.” Dancing. She hadn’t been dancing since she and Daniel celebrated confirmation of her pregnancy.
“Chris Tucker did in a movie…” The boy grinned, describing in detail the movie Rush Hour II. It was amazing how much their young minds absorbed the wrong things.
“But the drivers crashed their cars, right?” She reiterated, “People can get hurt playing in the street. My job is to make sure you stay safe. You can help me if you follow the rules.” Candace momentarily felt like the teacher.
Mrs. Davis stepped in and rescued Candace. “Let’s thank our wonderful speaker.”
To her amazement, she received thunderous applause. Humbled, Candace turned to leave when Lindsay jumped up and rewarded her with a hug. When she squatted to receive it, she felt the run stretch down her leg. Oh no. At least I’m done.
“Thank you, Mommy,” she whispered loudly.
Tapping the tip of her nose, Candace smiled. Her daughter’s happiness meant everything to her. Standing slowly, Candace inched her way to the door, stepping backwards. She experienced a chill again that she was being watched by someone other than the students.
Glancing at the remaining speakers, sure enough, it was the firefighter who Mrs. Davis motioned to next.
Ignoring the teacher, his attention left her face and traveled down to her legs. She inwardly groaned. That’s it. Feeling self-conscious, Candace whirled around and hurried out the classroom. Next stop—a beauty supply store to stock up on enough nylons for a month.
***
Miss Clark. She looked just as beautiful as the day he held her in his arms. Worried about her fate, Royce had made intercessory prayers on
her behalf. Thank God, she seemed fine and glowed when she smiled.
Her full lips got to him. Although he wanted to kiss them, Royce would have to settle for kissing Hershel—on the forehead or something—for orchestrating another chance meeting with the crossing guard. From the moment she walked in the classroom, Royce was captivated.
He performed another ring check as she identified herself as “Miss”. Whether she was divorced or never married, Royce would have to adjust his self-imposed restriction of no children in a relationship, because Lindsay was a cutie pie.
Still, he took the absence of a ring as a go ahead to ogle her. Even in that over-sized red vest, there was no question of her figure. Her brown hair brushed her shoulders.
The greenish-blue dress complemented her caramel skin tone. Suddenly, it became his favorite color. And the hem teased her knees, allowing him to appreciate how God had formed each limb of her body. He smirked at that run in her stockings. It did nothing to distract from the allure of her legs and how fast she used them to escape his scrutiny.
“He’s my uncle and the best firefighter besides my dad, who you have to call captain.” Brandon added that tidbit as he proudly introduced him, causing Royce to rein in his thoughts.
Although Royce winked at his nephew, his mind reverted back to Miss Clark on its own accord. He tapped into his autopilot mode and recited info he could mumble in his sleep. “Firefighters are your friends, but a fire is not. Don’t be afraid and hide when you see us in our mask. We are there to rescue you. Never try to put a fire out. Yell to warn others to get out. If you see smoke, call 9-1-1. Don’t try to take things with you like your favorite toy. Get out quickly. Your house could be burning before you can count to one hundred…”
He wrapped up his spiel minutes later and passed out packets that included decals for each child’s bedroom window. “Remember, when the smoke goes up…” he cupped his ear.
“We drop down so we can breathe,” the class shouted back at him.
Satisfied, Royce nodded. As the students clapped, he waved and strolled out of the classroom. Immediately, his mind returned to the crossing guard. It took pure restraint for Royce not to follow her out the class and engage her in a private conversation. But it was all good; Royce had a name, a face, a ringless finger and a great pair of legs to occupy his thoughts.