Better to swing through the lunch line as fast as possible with my students, help myself to the salad bar, pretend to not see the Littles propped up in their highchairs for all the actual kids to see, and spend a good twenty minutes watching UsBox videos on my computer back in my room. Less noise. Less risk of embarrassing myself. Less opportunity to be cornered.
But like most school cafeterias, Oakshire Elementary’s eatery also doubled as an auditorium. It had been prepared for us, with custodial staff hurriedly re-arranging chairs and cleaning up breakfast spills so that parents could pretend they were watching something special beyond a practiced spiel in a mess hall. Thankfully, the school was crowded enough and on a tight enough schedule that the first wave of lunches started as early as 10:45. Our ceremony would have to be blessedly short so as not to disrupt the rest of campus.
