Roseanne's Summer Vacation- Chapter 6

Every day of work looked the same for Mr Orville Holloway. He got up early in the morning, usually at 5 a.m. At that hour, it was dark outside for most of the year in the Land of Po. He grabbed his heavy backpack, filled with marked tests and a whole lot of voice-protecting items—from bottled water to throat lozenges—and off he went to catch a bus from Squidburb to Bydgoszcz. An hour later, he arrived downtown, got on a tram, and stepped off at Yard Street after a ten-minute ride.

In school, he would step into the teacher’s lounge, switch on the light, fire up the photocopier, turn on the kettle, and open up his locker that contained a stack of coursebooks. After that, he would then take the keys to his classroom and sit at his white desk, unloading mountains of paperwork and placing it next to a steaming cup of tea. He was preparing himself mentally for a whole day of talking, with occasional intermissions of yelling at unruly students in the classroom, at insane parents over the phone, and at mentally unstable co-workers.

Was this a dream job for Mr Orville Holloway? No, it wasn’t. But it was better than having absolutely no job in the Land of Po. He never aspired to be a teacher. It happened by complete accident. The routine of Monday to Friday drained him; working forty hours per week took a toll on his health. Saturday was the only salvation. Sunday was the eclipse of desperation. The clutches of the unpopular profession made him feel like a robot sometimes.

Still, while working in school, Mr Orville managed to force himself and operate on a different mental capacity than many other teachers. Yes, the routine sucked, the paperwork sucked, dealing with other people sucked, but the pay was good enough. There was no need for him to act like a burnt-out teacher in a state of catatonia. His job was to deliver a service, and the recipients of this service were his students. That service was knowledge, and he tried as hard as possible to teach it in the classroom. Often, the students bought into the enthusiasm and did as they were told, but sometimes the knowledge was reaching only a handful of participants.

“Good morning, Mr Orville!” the students would say each day in the hallway. He always winced when he heard that because he didn’t like the sound of his unusual French name. In fact, he also hated his surname—but, in view of the two dreadful options, he preferred to be called Mr Orville.

However, the exhausting conundrum was put to rest, at least temporarily. The vacation period has started. The only piece of dry land amidst the sea of dread. July and August became, respectively, one giant Saturday and Sunday. He didn’t have to get up early in the morning anymore, eat in a hurry, take a dump within three minutes, and slave away for the rest of the day. He had a whole day for himself, and the day after, and beyond.

That was the deal with the calendar. For two months. He was dead sure of that. Until Hannah Malinowski rang him up.

“But you’ve made a promise, Mr Orville…” she was talking on the phone in a graceful tone. “Of course, my daughter wants to come, and I personally believe it would be a disservice to children had the trip not come to fruition.”

You’ve made a promise, he repeated the words in his mind. Of course, he made a promise, so she could stop pestering him about it. Year after year, always around spring, Hannah Malinowski would stand up at a PTA meeting and ask about a prospective school trip. Once, the teacher even had a nightmare that he was crucified upside down and the Sonia Humphrey lookalike emerged out of thin air, carrying a flaming torch.

“You promised to take my daughter on a trip!” she said firmly, staring at him with her cold, grey eyes while igniting the cross.

Needless to say, Mr Orville Holloway was terrified of this parent—mainly because of her persistence and overall personality.

First of all, Hannah Malinowski appeared to be divorced, which wasn’t that out of the ordinary in the Land of Po. A lot of high school mothers are husbandless, but the woman repeatedly highlighted her marital status to Mr Orville to make sure he would remember she’s single. Second of all, she became the elected chairperson of not only the class Parent Council, but also the school’s Parent Council. Thus, she was always present anywhere at any time within the school premises, texting him continuously about the variety of events and organisational issues.

Nevertheless, Hannah Malinowski never did anything inappropriate to Mr Orville. From the teacher’s perspective, the parent’s problem was being too kind and too caring in social interactions.

Well, since he had been promising her to do the trip for three years, the stalling had to end someday, and that someday was the beginning of summer vacation.

Mr Orville reluctantly agreed to the trip, but he knew in the back of his mind that a lot of students, especially from his class, wouldn’t be keen to participate in it since they already have free time for themselves. He also communicated to Mrs Malinowski that he’d prefer to go to Gdynia, because this was one of the few places in the Land of Po he was fairly familiar with. It has to be taken into account that Gdynia isn’t a popular trip destination for students, especially when there’s Gdańsk and Sopot in the neighbourhood.

Hannah Malinowski said over the phone, “As a chairperson of the Parent Council, I implore you… Yes, I assure you that there will be a minimum of five students to partake in the trip. I will make sure of that personally… It’s not a problem either. I will make a reservation myself… Thank you once again, and have a great day!”

In spite of these discouraging factors, the parent did find five students and made a reservation in a hostel. The group led by Mr Orville was scheduled to depart by IC train at 10:03 a.m. from Bydgoszcz on the 8th of July.

“I’m back on the inverted cross again,” he said upon hearing the positive news.

Back to Chapter 5 <----> Move to Section Break The First Day