Two Alive, стр. 29

“I’m here!” a voice called from down the hall to the right. The principal and Johnathan looked to see Justine waddling towards the timeclock to punch in. She was in her third trimester and looked about ready to pop. Her ironic shirt over her blue jeans read, “baby on board.”

“Justine, were you able to contact the roofing company before you left yesterday?” Michelle asked.

“I called and left a message.” Justine plopped down in the chair behind the front desk.

“We need to do something about the roof today. We may have to send the students home,” Johnathan said.

“Is it that bad?” Justine looked him up and down and noticed the mess on his clothes.

“We got leaks in almost all the classrooms. That company really fucked us.” Johnathan looked at his shirt and pulled it off. Luckily, he was wearing a tank top underneath, saving Justine from covering her eyes in embarrassment.

“Please put on a shirt.” Michelle turned to the white board behind her with the classroom schedules and aide assignments. “We don’t have to send the kids home. Most of them are going to the movies today anyway and classroom seven has work.”

“Sam hasn’t made all the corrections to that yet so you may not want to go by that schedule.” Johnathan said.

“Please go put on a shirt before the students start arriving.” Michelle started writing on the white board with one of the markers she had brought in.

Johnathan saluted her with his shirt in hand and turned to leave the front office, hearing Justine pick up the phone and say she was going to call the roofers again. Johnathan walked past the empty conference room on his right, then went past the new makeshift breakroom where he arranged all coffee makers on a table. He swung the corner to the left at the end of the hall and almost bumped into someone, a younger light skin woman, Francine. She was radiant as ever in her pencil skirt and matching blue blazer and Johnathan excused himself for almost knocking her over.

“That’s ok, I wasn’t paying attention anyway.” She was lean with a track athlete’s build but still wasn’t as quick as Johnathan when it came to running down students. “I’m always so clumsy.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m clumsier than you. I’ve already lost my shirt today.” Johnathan held out his shirt and she laughed. He was still a little surprised every time he was able to make such a well-educated PhD grad like Francine laugh at his simple jokes.

“Ooh Johnathan, what you doin’ wit yo shirt off?” A woman down the hall was calling out. She imitated throwing money at him like he was a stripper, pulling at her orange blouse and saying, “Take it off.”

Johnathan gave a few hip swings and a short pelvic thrust that had both the other woman and Francine laughing loudly. Johnathan turned and continued to his office then closed the door before going under his desk for a box of slightly used t-shirts he kept in case the students needed a change. He meant to buy another pack of new ones after one boy had thrown up on himself when he was eating his pizza too fast. He took Johnathan’s last clean shirt on Tuesday. Then another boy had an “accident” on Wednesday that was really just him throwing shit at the walls in the bathroom; which led to him needing a shirt.

Johnathan pulled on an Ascend Academy hoodie after not being able to find a shirt his size. When he exited his office, he was glad Arthur wasn’t there waiting to tell him about some new issue with his microwave in his classroom, or the windows, or Arthur’s computer that kept getting viruses. Arthur’s computer was almost as messed up as all those people in the news suffering from UGEN’s side effects. Johnathan had been hesitant to try the miracle drug when it first came out and now he was glad he hadn’t tried taking it.

The so called “cure-all medication” was meant to do away with insulin shots, chemotherapy and the common cold. It was too good to be true but people all over the world were buying it up, wholesale. For a while it seemed like the medicine industry had actually made something that was worth a damn. But not even a year after the drug hit the market, people started getting sick and behaving erratically. UGEN was pulled from the shelves and was replaced with another crock of shit “cure for the cure”. LRS-10 was supposed to help people dealing with any side effects from UGEN, but from what Johnathan saw on the news in Arthur’s classroom the other day, LRS-10 was just making things worse.

“Good morning old man!” A young man named Brandon went rushing past Johnathan, trying to keep his backpack on his shoulder. He was no doubt bounding for the time clock to punch in before he was late.

“Good morning, Brandon,” Johnathan called after the younger man, then jumped back when the bathroom door flew open in front of him. He hated that his office was so close to the bathroom.

“Oh! I’m sorry Johnathan!” A little old lady stepped out from behind the door. She outstretched her arms to reach up and hug the taller man.

“Good morning Ms. Dottie.” He bent down to hug the grandmotherly woman and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Good morning sweetheart. How are you?” Ms. Dottie asked with a cherry red smile.

“I’m good. How are you?”

“I’m good. I’d be better if I could use the bathroom.” She giggled and pointed at the closed doors inside the restroom. She covered her hands when she saw him look down at the black veins on her fingers.

“You ok Ms. Dottie?”

“Oh, I’m fine sugar. I’m fine. I get all my