The female teacher tried to persuade him to wait inside the security booth where it was warmer, and there was a heater, but Kelvin was afraid that his mommy would come, and he wouldn't see her if he stayed there.
He stubbornly shook his head and refused to provide any other family member's phone number. The teacher had no choice but to keep him company for another half an hour.
Winter nights arrived early, and before 6 o'clock, the sky had already darkened. The snowflakes continued to fall gently, covering the roads, buildings, and trees in a white blanket. The entire world seemed to have fallen asleep.
Time passed slowly, and as the minutes ticked by, it felt excruciatingly slow. Just when the teacher felt her hands were no longer her own, she suddenly heard Kelvin sneeze.
It jolted her out of her drowsiness, and she moved her somewhat stiff neck, looking down at the drowsy boy. She gently patted his shoulder to wake him.
'Kelvin, you can't sleep. You'll catch a cold. Wake up...'
Hearing the teacher's call, Kelvin slowly opened his sleepy eyes. A gust of cold wind blew, and the snowflakes stung his face like blades. It was both cold and painful.
His voice, tinged with drowsiness, asked the teacher, 'Miss Wiggins, what time is it now?'
She lowered her gaze to her wristwatch and replied somewhat helplessly, 'It's already 6:17.'
Your mommy might... not be coming.
The boy remained silent, but his tightly pursed lips revealed his emotions. The teacher gave a bitter smile and tried to comfort him.
'Kelvin, perhaps your mommy is just too busy. How about you give me the phone number of someone else at home? I'll go to the office and make a call for you.'
At this time, mobile phones weren't common yet, and only wealthy people had a set of Motorola or Nokia phones, but they were nothing like the advanced smartphones of the future. The teacher had just graduated and had been working for less than half a year, living paycheck to paycheck. She couldn't afford a personal phone.
However, there was a landline phone in her office, making it relatively convenient to make calls.
Kelvin declined the teacher's kind offer and took a deep breath of the cold air.
'No need, thank you, Miss Wiggins.'
With that, he turned and started walking toward the school gate. After standing for two hours, the snow had soaked his shoes and socks, leaving his feet cold, numb, and devoid of sensation.
Calling it walking would be an exaggeration; it was more like a slow, shuffling movement, each step taken with difficulty, resembling an octogenarian.
The female teacher watched his stubborn departure, blurred by the night. She couldn't help but feel a lump in her throat and hurriedly caught up with him.
'Do you have money? Let me take you to catch a bus...'
Kelvin nodded solemnly and bowed to her at a 90-degree angle. 'Thank you, Miss Wiggins. I have money.'
She seemed to believe him and handed the umbrella to Kelvin. 'Then be careful on your own. You can keep this umbrella, and return it to me next semester.'
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: She Became Rich After Divorce (Cheyenne and Kelvin)
Nice story...