The Homespun Holiday (4 page)

“Yes, sir,” Millicent agreed
quickly.  “I feel confident, however, that we can all reach a disciplinary
action that we can both accept.”

“As you know, Ms. Robbins, we’ve
overlooked Paisley’s outbursts in the past.  We know how hard it must be for
you to be a single, working mother and are aware that Paisley doesn’t really
have any male influences in her life right now.”

“Excuse me?” Mack growled.

“Doc, don’t interrupt,” Millie
warned under her breath, shooting her boss a sidelong look of censure.

Mack shot Millie a look of
disbelief.  “I most certainly will interrupt if he’s saying something untrue. 
And what he just said?  Patently untrue,” he growled, glaring at the
Principal.  “I happen to have spent nearly every day of the summer with this
child,” he shared, dropping his hand on Paisley’s head.  “Believe me, she’s had
a male influence.  ME!”

“And you are?” the Principal asked
with a raised eyebrow, looking over his glasses at the man that stood in front
of his desk.  “Ms. Robbins?  Who exactly is this gentleman and what is his
relationship to Paisley?”

“My name is Dr. Mackenzie Daniels. 
I’m the only OB-GYN in this town, so I suspect you know full well just who I
am.  I also happen to be, among other things, Ms. Robbins’ employer and
friend.”

Millie’s eyes dilated at that
statement.  They were friends?  Since when?  Where had she been when that
upgrade in their relationship had been made?  At best, she figured she was just
someone he tolerated in order to do his job productively. 

“I’m also the guy that spent the
better part of the summer helping Millie watch over Paisley.  But most
importantly, I’m the person that explained the birds and the bees to our little
student here,” he continued, ruffling Paisley’s hair and pulling a giggle from
her lips.  “If there’s a problem with something she said this morning, then the
problem you have is ultimately with
me
, not the five-year-old child that
was only parroting what an adult told her.”

“Sir, I don’t know if you or
Paisley’s mother are aware of just what words were coming out of this little
girl’s young mouth.  Ms. Simmons here, however, was there,” he stated,
gesturing at the rail thin older woman in the corner.  “She can tell you that
the vocabulary was certainly not something we can tolerate here at Taft
Elementary School. 

Millie tried not to flinch as she
observed Paisley’s very judgmental teacher sitting in a straight back chair in
the corner.  The teacher hadn’t liked her from the very first day of class;
she’d made it clear that she preferred dealing with students that were from
two-parent homes.  And honestly, the woman looked like she’d been sucking on a
lemon for the last decade or so, and she was fairly certain that if Miss
Simmons bent over, they’d find a stick lodged firmly between her butt cheeks.

“Principal Carter is absolutely
right,” Ms. Simmons’ nasally voice concurred.  “Paisley’s vocabulary was
atrocious this morning.  And the things she was sharing with our class were
entirely inappropriate,” the woman condemned, her gaze cold as it fell on the
child.

Millie moved a step closer to her
baby as she saw the other woman glare at her kid.  “Paisley told the truth. 
Based on what she’s told me she said, none of the words she uttered can be
categorized as either vulgar or obscene as was indicated to me this morning on
the phone by Ms. Simmons,” she declared, staring the principal in the eye as
she spoke.  Honestly, she hadn’t intended to defend Paisley’s behavior when
she’d walked through the door, but that nasty look that the teacher had given
her child had changed her mind.  Nobody was going to crucify her child for
telling the truth – especially not a Kindergarten teacher that appeared to be
carrying a grudge against her student.

“Perhaps I’m a bit out of the
loop,” the principal suggested, his gaze shifting from teacher to parent.  “In
the interest of fairness, maybe one of you could tell me what language was
used.”

“Look, the kid used the word
vagina, penis, and testicles when she explained how babies were made.  She
heard a kid blowing smoke about finding Jesus under a leaf and decided she’d
tell him how it really happens.  Nothing she said was incorrect or offensive.  It
was factual.  If people can’t handle the truth, that’s hardly Paisley’s
problem, is it?”

“Those are not words that any good
young child would know,” Ms. Simmons charged shrilly.

Jerking her head toward the other
woman, Millie stiffened.  “Excuse me!  Are you implying that I have a
bad
child?”

“Well, the absence of a father in
her life isn’t doing her any favors,” Ms. Simmons returned snidely.

“That will be enough, Ms. Simmons,”
the Principal thundered before either Millie or Dr. Daniels could blast the woman. 
“You will apologize for that remark.  Now!  Because I can assure you that it is
certainly not the position of anyone else at this school.”

Millie watched as the old bat
blushed.  “My apologies,” she mumbled, refusing to look toward Millie or
Paisley.

“I can assure you that your
half-hearted apology is
not
accepted and that your unwanted opinion of
Ms. Robbins personal life
will
be addressed with the Board  of Education
and
the Superintendent of Schools,” Mack bit out, his low voice eerily
quiet in the otherwise silent office.  “But because I’m curious, Ms. Simmons,
what words
do
you find acceptable for five-year-old children to call
either their penis or vagina?  Surely the children you instruct have used these
kind of words with you before when they needed to use the restroom. What do you
teach them to call their reproductive organs?”

Millie watched Ms. Simmons offer
her and Mack a haughty look.  “There are lots of acceptable terms that I allow
the children to use.  For girls, many call that area their woohoos or their
precious.  I’ve heard some call it a kitty cat or a hoohah.  For boys, they
call their…part,” she said, stumbling over her words, “Well, sometimes the boys
will call it a tallywacker or a ding-a-ling…”

“So, nonsense words, then?” Millie interrupted
the other woman.  “You teach your children to call their
parts
, as you
call them, nonsense words rather than what they actually are.”

“W-well, yes.”

Dr. Daniels made a derisive noise
as he glared at both the teacher and the principal.  “No wonder America’s kids
are falling behind educationally when they are compared to kids in other
countries.  Their so-called educators are terrified of teaching the truth. 
Listen, lady,” he said, addressing Ms. Simmons, “I’ve been a doctor for a long
time, and never once have I heard a vagina say meow!   For the love of God,
don’t teach these girls that their vagina is a kitty cat!  And with the boys…a
ding-a-ling?  Seriously?  Get a clue.  These kids need to be unashamed of their
bodies, and they need to know what the hell they’ve got between their legs!”

Millie nodded decisively, her anger
levels rising exponentially.  “The bottom line here is that while Paisley
probably shouldn’t have divulged so many details about the male and female body
and childbirth to her peers, she didn’t technically violate any code of conduct. 
I’ve already admonished her for being overly honest.  For the school to expel
her for simply using terminology that a
teacher
isn’t comfortable with…
well, let’s just say that if you pursue such an expulsion, Principal Carter, I
will be forced to take this issue before the school board and contact our
attorney.”

“And while she’s doing that, I’ll
be hitting up Paradise’s newspaper and giving them a heads up on how things are
run over here at the elementary school,” Dr. Daniels added threateningly.  “I
can’t imagine the public will be very understanding when they learn that you’ve
got teachers trying to bully both students and parents with their skewed views
of morality.”

The Principal held up his hands and
shook his head quickly.  “No!  No, that won’t be necessary at all.  I think
we’re all on the same page now.  This was simply a misunderstanding.  Paisley
was just a little over eager to share details on a subject best discussed at
home.  Ms. Simmons, you and Paisley can return to your class. I’m sure they’re
missing you both by now.”

 “Yay!” Paisley cheered, clapping
her hands together.  “I can go see my friends now!”

Bending, Millicent bent over to hug
and kiss her daughter on the crown of her head.  “Go back to class, baby, and
for heaven’s sake, keep a low profile, okay?”

“Gotcha, Momma!  Thanks, Dr. Mack,”
she said, looking up at the big man with something that looked a lot like hero
worship to Millie.  “Will I see you when the bus drops me at your office?”

“Hope so, kiddo.  Go with your
teacher now.  I’ll see you soon,” he promised, bending to drop his own kiss
against her silky hair.

Paisley beamed under the attention
of her mother and her mother’s boss.  Skipping back over to the somewhat shocked
kindergarten teacher, Paisley took Ms. Simmons hand. “C’mon, Ms. S!  Time is
wasting!  We gots fingerpainting to do.”

Millie and Mack watched with nearly
identical pleased expressions as the little girl led the flummoxed teacher out
of the Principal’s office.

“That’s a very articulate little
girl you have, Ms. Robbins.  She’s quite mature for her age, isn’t she?”
Principal Carter asked as he, too, watched the child and her teacher disappear
down the school hallway.

“She’s been mostly surrounded by
adults her entire life.  She’s intelligent and picks up on what should be adult
conversations very quickly.  Most of the time, you don’t notice her because
she’s so quiet.  She’s very clever about her eavesdropping.  Believe me, we
don’t voluntarily hand her the type of information she spouted today.  She
overhears things and we’re forced to explain them to her.  Otherwise, Paisley
tends to make up her own stories.  If we hadn’t explained to her how babies got
made, she’d have had aliens landing on Earth to impregnate unsuspecting women.”

The Principal chuckled.  “Well, when
you share how bad it
could
have been, I suppose we got off easy today.”

“If that’s all, Principal Carter,
we’ve both got jobs to get back to doing,” Mack pointed out gruffly as he
cupped Millie’s elbow in his and steered her toward the door.

“No, that’s everything.  In the
future, I’ll take Ms. Simmons concerns with a grain of salt.  I’m sure she’s
very sorry,” he murmured, obviously embarrassed to have confronted Millicent
with the unfounded accusations of his teacher.

“Yeah,” Mack scoffed.  “She seemed
real sorry.   The next time she implies that Paisley is somehow tainted because
she doesn’t have a dad in the picture, we’re going to have problems, Carter.”

 “Dr. Daniels!” Millie hissed softly,
pinching his side. 

“What?” Mack growled grumpily. 
“You
want
her to be able to say that kind of stuff around Paisley?”

“Of course not,” Millie huffed. 
“But you don’t need to be so rude to Principal Carter,” she whispered.

“I disagree,” Mack retorted,
shooting a dirty look at the man in question.  “Simmons is his employee; he
needs to rein her in before she says something that hurts some innocent kid. 
If you were treating my patients like crap and making unwed mothers feel bad
for being knocked up, it would be on me, Millie, because you are my employee. 
I’d be expected to discipline you.  The same applies here.”

“He’s right,” Principal Carter
agreed softly as he inclined his head toward Mack.  “I’ll be having a private
word with Ms. Simmons after school.”

“Oh, well….thank you, I guess,”
Millie said nervously, tucking her brownish-red hair behind her ear.   “We’ll
just let you get back to work.  Thank God it’s Friday, huh?” she added with a
little laugh as Mack pulled her out the door.

“I couldn’t agree more.  Have a
nice weekend,” the man offered before closing his office behind them.

~**~

Waiting until they reached the
asphalt parking lot to speak, Millicent jerked her hand out of Dr. Daniels. 
“What the heck was that back there?” she asked as her boss turned to face her,
his brow creased and his golden brown eyes darkened to the color of rich
caramel as he stared at her.

“What are you talking about?” Mack
asked, his voice gravelly and low.  “I just said and did what needed to be
done.  For you and for Paisley.”

She couldn’t believe the way he was
just shrugging off the way he’d taken up for her and Paisley.  She’d known this
man for
months
.  And yes, he was good with his patients.  But as far as
just normal, everyday social interactions went, the man seemed to despise
people.  The fact that he’d gone to bat for her was
huge
.  “Yeah, I
agree things needed to be said and done in there. 
By me, Doc
.  I needed
to say all those things.  You didn’t.  You don’t owe me anything, and yet…you
called me a friend back there.   Not only that, but you stuck up for us.  Both
me and Paisley,” Millie clarified softly, jerking her thumb at the building
behind them as she tilted her head and tried to wrap her mind around this new
dynamic in their relationship.  “Did you mean it?”