Brooke had been down this same stretch of two lane blacktop every weekday morning for as long as she could remember. She watched the familiar landscape roll by. They drove past the post mill. Past Warren’s Lake. Through what her dad called “Dead Man’s Curve.”
“Will there be anyone that I know there?”
Her mother shifted into a higher gear as the car gained speed coming out of the curves.
“Not at first, but you’ll get to know them this week. That’s what preschool is for – it will give you a chance to practice getting to know other kids your age.”
“I thought it was so that I would be ready to start school.”
“It is. Getting to know other kids is part of being ready to start school.”
The car emerged from the stretch of highway that was shaded by trees on both sides and into the light again. They passed the sign that read, “City Limits.”
What do I do if I can’t tie the shoulders after I go to the bathroom?”
Brooke’s ’s mother had laid out new clothes and a new pair of sandals for her this morning. The sandals were no problem. She was almost five, after all. She wasn’t so sure about the new thing that Mom called a romper, though. It didn’t have sleeves. It had these pieces of fabric on each side that tied together to hold it up. When tied, the bows sat right on top of her shoulders with the tail ends hanging down. They tickled her arms and made her shiver.
“There will be grown-ups there to help with things like that. Just ask one of the grown-ups if you need help with the ties.”
“Will I know any of the grown-ups?”
“Not at first, but they are there to help you.”
“But they are strangers. Grandma told me to never talk to strangers and to especially never open the door if a stranger knocks.”
Her mother sighed. “Grandma is right, but these grown-ups aren’t really strangers. They will be your teachers. That’s different.”
It was different. The teachers were very different than the dangerous strangers Brooke had imagined when Grandma told her to never open the door for anyone that she didn’t know. There were two of them. Miss Nancy and Miss Diane.
Miss Nancy met them at the door. She introduced Brooke to the other preschoolers as they came in for breakfast. Miss Diane helped her find a chair in a room where there were little round tables, little wooden chairs, coloring pages, and giant boxes of crayons.
Miss Diane told Brooke how pretty her outfit was. Brooke was confused at first, but then she realized that Miss Diane was talking about her new sandals and the romper.
Brooke already knew how to color inside the lines. Grandma had taught her how to do that ages ago, and Brooke tried not to smile too big when Miss Diane told her that she had done a very good job.
After coloring, everyone sat on a big, round rug for story time. Miss Nancy was a good reader, though Brooke liked Grandma’s voice better. When story time ended, Miss Diane took everyone to the playground. Brooke played on the swings and took turns going down the slide with two other girls.
By the time they went inside for lunch, Brooke had decided that she LOVED preschool. All the fear she’d had about not knowing anyone and the teachers being strangers seemed silly now. She had to ask for help when she couldn’t tie one side of her romper after using the bathroom but, instead of being embarrassed, she felt pride in her accomplishment when Miss Nancy told her what a good job she’d done tying the other side all by herself!
At the lunch table, Brooke sat beside a girl named Laura. Laura had honey-gold hair that was pulled back in a French braid. Grandma had tried to French braid Brooke’s hair once, but it had turned out lopsided and uneven. Laura’s braid was perfect.
Suddenly, Laura raised her hand over her head and called out to Miss Diane, “I want to sit somewhere else, please.”
“It’s almost time to eat,” Miss Diane said in her calm, even voice.
“I need to sit somewhere else.”
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong with where you’re sitting now?” Miss Diane asked as she knelt down beside Laura’s chair.
Laura tipped her head toward Miss Diane while keeping her eyes on Brooke and said in a loud whisper, “She’s fat and I don’t want to sit by her while I eat.”
Miss Diane stood, took Laura’s hand and quietly said, “Laura, come with me for just a moment, please.”
As Laura and Miss Diane left the room, Brooke looked up, surprised to see that Miss Nancy was still passing out lunch trays as though nothing had changed. Three boys on the other side of the table were still talking about whose dad could burp the loudest. The sounds of traffic starting and stopping on the street outside could still be heard over the steady hum of the air conditioner.
When Laura and Miss Diane came back, Laura sat down beside Brooke, but she didn’t eat her lunch. Miss Nancy asked her if she would please eat at least one bite of her sandwich. Laura shook her head.
Nap time came after lunch. Brooke picked a cot close to the windows. Miss Nancy turned on soft music, turned the lights off, and then walked quietly around the room, whispering to the kids who were fidgeting.
Brooke closed her eyes, but she couldn’t sleep.
When Miss Nancy left the room, Brooke opened her eyes again. Through a gap in the blinds, she could see a bird sitting in the tree outside. It was a robin red breast. The bird turned its head one way and then another. Brooke wondered if birds ever had to take naps.
Above the hum of the ceiling fans and the quiet sounds of the other children breathing, Brooke heard the gurgle of a coffee maker and the clink of coffee cups in the other room.
“You’ll have to talk to her mother,” Miss Nancy whispered.
“I will, but she already knows. That’s one of the reasons they put her in preschool. She wasn’t getting enough physical activity with her grandma, and they think that Grandma feeds her too much.”
“Well, she seems like a sweet girl. So eager to please. So smart.”
“I know, I hate it for her.”
“I do too. You know how it is. Going out on the playground twice a day isn’t going to fix the problem. The poor girl is going to be dealing with this for the rest of her life, especially since her mother is fat too. That’s just how it works.”
“I know. Poor thing. At least she’s smart. That’s something.”
Brooke closed her eyes when she felt them start to sting.
When nap time was over, Miss Nancy flipped on the light switch. The lights were painfully bright as the teachers went around to each cot, waking them up one by one and sending them to the restroom.
After nap time they played board games. Brooke played Connect Four with a girl named Tracy. She won every game until Tracy cried and said she didn’t want to play anymore.
Brooke tried to play with the boys on the teeter totter when they went outside again, but they said they didn’t want to teeter totter with a girl. So, Brooke went over to the tree that she’d seen through the window. The robin red breast was gone, but she found a stick and started digging in the dirt under the tree.
Parents started arriving while they were on the playground. When Brooke’s mom stepped outside, Miss Diane pulled her aside.
During the car ride home, on the same stretch of two-lane blacktop that she’d traveled every weekday for as long as she could remember, nothing looked the same. They passed the sign that said, “City Limits,” and went through the place where there were trees on both sides of the road. The shade of the trees didn’t seem magical the way it usually did, and “Dead Man’s Curve” felt menacing as the car wound its way through. The setting sun was reflecting off Warren’s Lake. It hurt Brooke’s eyes and she looked away. At the post mill, there was a man putting a lock on the gate. He frowned at their car as it went by.
“I’m not going back there tomorrow.”
“Brooke,” her mother said, her voice heavy with weariness. “It was your first day. Tomorrow will be better. I promise.”
“The teachers said you’re fat too.”
Brooke’s mother didn’t say another word. The once familiar landscape rolled by unseen as Brooke thought about Grandma and how right she was to never open the door for strangers.