Triplets

Summer break was coming and I had already landed an early morning job. Taking care of kids at a small play area/Pre-School in the richer part of town. The money was good and the job was easy. On this particular morning at 5am I get to open up said play area. The outside looked like it could be a small technology center, apart from the logo (a pink flamingo) and the small wall design that had been started but never finished. I always thought that everything was perfect in this part of town, but apparently not. I opened the four locks on the door and stepped in. I found that everything was as expected and turned on the lighting, not that the room needed the extra lighting with all the windows.

On the silver and blue corner counter, where we greet the parents, I found a list of the activities to set up, from early morning breakfast to opening up the ball-pit.

Doors open at 6am, so I'm quick to start up all the activities and clean off any surface I think is slightly dirty. I just wiped over everything with Anti-Bacterial wipes and continued to press power buttons on items that I didn't realise were there - I was instructed to just turn anything and everything on, which I found weird because all this wasted power must've been expensive.

"Hello?" the first mother had arrived, shuffling her child into the play center and signing the sheet that says she drop of who ever, "Ahh Diamond. It's so nice to see you here."

"Let me guess, yesterday you had Simon?" I gave her a sympathetic expression as she allowed her child to walk in to the play area.

"Yes." She said bluntly, "You obviously don't remember me, I'm Michelle, my child is called Logan. You really helped him come out of his shell, I only know because at home he tells me about how spectacular you are and that you scared off some bullies I wasn't even aware he had."

I walked over to Logan, he sat down then looked up at me and smiled which is when I realised who he was, "I know what it's like to be a bit of an outcast, that's why I've put him forward for the Children's High Achievers scholarship, so he can go into a good school after his final year at this place."

Michelle looked like she was going to cry with joy, I just smiled and walked to the front desk. I found the paperwork she needed to sign and gave her a pen. Without words she signed it and seemed to be in a daze, just staring at Logan.

"I can't thank you enough. It's just..." she began to well up.

"Look sit down in the chair, we have at least 45 minutes before anyone else shows up. How about we have a little chat?" I suggested, she nodded in response and took a seat behind the desk, "So where do you want to start?"

"Well, I want to know your story, I'm sure you've heard about Logan's history. His father, my husband, passing away from cancer, me having a little breakdown and then he had some heart complications." she seemed to just list the events as if it were her shopping, "So, what about you? What's your story."

I joined her and sat opposite her, "Hmm, where do I begin?" I smiled and thought, "Well, everything was great, apart from my Dad always seeming to be more in favour of whatever my older brother Grey wanted or said, but it never bothered me. I would always hang out with my mum whenever anything went down. Then in the last year she got very ill and died. She had bled a lot and I was the one who found her. Going back to school was harsh with all the rumours that I had killed her. I thought things were picking up with my friend Reni being really supportive but then her and Grey developed a romance."

I took a brief break to catch my breath and realised she was holding back tears. I grabbed a tissue and gave it to her, thinking it was due to her story and how she may have been reminded of her husband.

"Please do go on. I want to hear more." Michelle just wiped her eyes and shuffled a bit.

"Ok. After Grey had the new distraction of Reni, Dad got away with beating me pretty bad. Luckily my, I guess, friend found the bruises and I lived with him for a while - not that Grey noticed. Then I found this job. This job and the children that are here bring me so much happiness, I wish I could be as happy as some of these kids. You know what I mean?" I ended it there, taking a tissue from her, I didn't want my eye liner to run.

"Thank you for that. I do like to know people's history - not like that, I mean I like to know how people got where they are or to understand them." she looked startled, like she was being rude.

"It's fine. I did read your child's file after all." I gave her a friendly smile as she got up to go and kiss Logan goodbye, as she came back she must've spotted the expression on my face, "Sorry it's just that I miss my mother."

She just nodded and left. I thought it was a bit strange but I needed to get into Kiddie mode. Starting with Logan. This was going to be a short few hours before school...