Rose woke up to see Max lying next to her. She forgot for a moment that Max had a bad dream, and came in at the middle of the night asking if he could sleep with her. They didn't stay up long, and Max didn't have a bad dream after that point. She gently got out of bed, and decided to let him sleep until she got dressed and out of the shower. She stepped out of the bathroom, and entered her bedroom where she put her hair up. Taking a double take in the mirror to make sure that it looked all right, she then went over to the bed and woke up Max.
"Max, honey. It's time to get up and go to Grandma Ruth's and Grandpa Jonathan's."
Max opened his sleepy eyes and stared at his Mom. "It's too early, Mommy."
"Come on, sweetie. We have to go and eat breakfast."
Max then got up with his teddy bear, and held his Mommy's hand walking down the stairs. She fixed him a quick bowl of cereal, and went back upstairs to go and wake up Audrey. She got Audrey dressed, and went downstairs with her bag, which contained some of Audrey's bottles and cloth diapers.
"Max, after you get done eating, will you please go and get any toys you would like to bring to Grandma and Grandpa's?"
"Okay," Max said as he took a bite of his cereal.
Rose smiled, and sat Audrey in her high chair. She gave Audrey her food, and made sure her and the children's things were together. "All right, I think everything is ready." Rose turned around, and saw Max's empty bowl and empty seat. "Okay, good. Max is getting his toys, and Audrey is almost done with her breakfast. Everything is going good so far."
Max then came in with some toys. "Oh, good choice, Max. Here, you can put them into this bag." Rose opened the bag, and Max watched the toys fall into the bag. "All right. I think we are ready to go." Rose picked up Audrey, and the three headed for the door.
Max started to run towards Ruth's door as they approached her and Jonathan's house. "Max, be careful!" Rose yelled from behind Max.
Ruth heard Rose, and she opened the door to find little Max coming running towards her with full force. He slammed against his grandmother, giving her a hug.
"Morning, Max." Ruth laughed.
"Morning Grandma!" Max looked up at his Grandma, and then headed inside.
"Morning, Mother." Rose handed Ruth Audrey and her bag.
"Morning, Rose. How are you this morning?"
"Oh, fine. You?"
"The usual."
Rose nodded and looked around. "Well, I should start heading towards the school. I should be back around four in the afternoon."
"All right. We'll see you then."
"Good-bye, Audrey." Rose kissed her forehead, and Max came running out. "Max, you be good for Grandma, and don't give her grief."
"What's grief?"
Rose smiled, and hugged and kissed Max, saying, "I'll tell you later."
Max just shrugged his shoulders, and headed back inside.
"Good luck on your first day."
"Thank you."
Rose started to walk off, heading towards the school. As she approached the school, she noticed children playing outside. Rose went through the crowd, and walked up the stone steps, which revealed a long hallway. Rose walked slowly, looking for someone to help her find which classroom she would be in.
"Excuse me." Rose stopped a forty-year-old man walking from one class into another.
"Yes, Miss?"
"I'm Mrs. Dawson. I'm one of your new teachers."
"Oh, yes. I'm Mr. Conklin, the schoolmaster. Please, follow me." Rose followed the man down the hallway, and stopped at a medium sized room. "This is your classroom." Mr. Conklin signaled for her to enter, and he followed her in. "You will be teaching the second and third graders since we are tight on teachers still." The schoolmaster walked over towards a huge shelf containing many books. "The dark green are your mathematics books, the maroon colored ones are reading, and the dark blue ones are writing. Chalk can be found in the second hand drawer on the left side of the desk, and paper and pens can be found on the first hand drawer in the left side. Your teacher's manuals are in the third hand drawer on the left side."
"What's on the right side?"
"Extra pens, chalkboards, and other things for new or irresponsible children. Any other questions?"
"No."
"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some other new teachers I need to show around. I'll be checking up on you at noon, just to make sure you're doing all right."
"Okay." Rose nodded her head.
Mr. Conklin exited the room, and Rose placed her bag on the clean desk. She took the chalk out the desk, and wrote her name. Mrs. Dawson. Suddenly, a burst of children came through the door. Rose turned around from the blackboard, and watched them sit down.
Rose waited until all the children were settled, and then said, "Good morning."
"Good morning, Mrs. Dawson," the children said in unison. Rose smiled, and told the children their first assignment for the day.
*****
It was in the afternoon, when Rose was in her room looking after her students' papers and eating her lunch, when Mr. Conklin came in.
"Mrs. Dawson."
Rose looked up and saw Mr. Conklin by the doorway with some books in his hand. "Mr. Conklin."
"How is your first day going so far?"
"It's going fine. The children are little angels. They couldn't be more pleasant."
"I'm glad that you were blessed with a wonderful class." Rose smiled and shuffled her papers as if she was looking for a particular one. "Well, I suppose I should go and eat my lunch. I will see you at three."
"All right," Rose said, and continued looking at the papers.
As Mr. Conklin exited, she took a bite of her apple and a sip of her drink. 'I wonder if Jack sent me a letter yet. I can't wait for the first one to come so I can write him back,' Rose thought to herself.
*****
Later in the day, when Rose picked up the children from Ruth's, she headed home. As she approached their home, she hurried towards the mailbox. She gently opened its slot to reveal a letter marked from "Jack Dawson" to "Rose Dawson". Rose's eyes lightened and a smile grew on her face. Audrey tried to grab the letter as Rose held her, but she looked at Audrey.
"Yes, sweetie, that's from Daddy, but it's not for you to rip."
Rose kissed Audrey's nose, and walked inside the house still holding her. She sat her down in the family room to play with Max, and she went into the kitchen to start cooking supper. Rose placed the pan full of spaghetti onto one of the oven burners and turned it on. She sat down at the table and opened the letter with excitement.
My Dearest Rose,
It's been a week since I left Virginia, and I'm already missing you, Max, and Audrey. We are right now in London, but I doubt that we will be here long. It's cold and gloomy here. I've made friends, but it's hard to know whether or not you'll see them tomorrow. It ended up that Johnny, Scott, and I are all in the same group. I think that makes it a little better for all three of us. God, Rose, I miss you so much I can't even breathe. How are you? Are Max and Audrey okay? How's Ruth and Jonathan? Has anything new or shocking been going on? The reason I'm asking all these questions, and not saying anything new about me is that there isn't. The only thing different from home is planes buzzing over you, and the smell of gun powder and thunder of bullets welcoming you every morning and sounding you to sleep; they never stop. Well, I better go. I miss you Rose, and can't wait to see you again. I love you and the children. Please give them each a hug and kiss from me.
Love always, Jack
