Past somebody’s bedtime
I’m playing guitar in a band, “Blues In A Bottle.” We had our third gig this Friday night at the River Station in Poughkeepsie. I got out of there just before 1 AM and stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts on the way home to pick up a muffin.
As I was walking up to the counter, I thought I recognized a young lady sitting by herself at one of the tables. She had her hair dyed black and was wearing a black leather jacket. That was the look she had put together for herself. I was pretty sure that she had been in one of my classes when I used to substitute teach.
Sure enough she calls out to me, “Aren’t you a substitute teacher?” So, I went over to say hello and reintroduce myself and ask her her name. I remember her being a nice kid. She was there hanging out with her friends who worked the night shift.
She told me that she should be going into her senior year, but that she had dropped out of high school, earned her GED, and was now in her first year at Dutchess Community College. I told her that that was cool, because high school is such a messed up place — which it is. I told her it’s nothing like the real world, socially or any other way; and good for her if she was in community college. I then said goodbye, ordered my muffin, and drove home.
Anyway, here’s the best part. When she first called out to me I answered yes, I was a substitute teacher, and asked her if she had gone to La Grange Middle School, which she had. The very next thing this 17-year-old at 1 in the morning said to me — in a tone of voice exhibiting some bit of surprise — was, “What are you doing out so late?”
What am I doing out so late.
It’s been a while since I’ve substitute taught an English class, but I think that’s called irony.
