~*~

“What the heck, Mom!” My eyes were golf-balls bulging out of my skull. “You’re the principal?” The tone of my voice silently demanded an explanation. My mother sat there behind the big, mahogany principal’s desk in a grey business suit, rubbing her index finger up and down the bridge of her nose over and over. It suddenly occurred to me that the principal was the one who was nervous now, nervous to face her son.

 “Sit down, Nathan.” She pleaded, motioning anxiously toward one of the chairs in front of her desk. I didn’t want to sit. So for the first time in a long time, I disobeyed my mom and stayed standing.

 “What happened to the job at Kohls. Weren’t you the manager of Kohls, like just last week?” I accused dramatically, flinging my arms around. I saw Mr. Thorpe’s shadow as it slipped out of the office.

 “I can explain all that, just sit down, Nathan!” Her eyes held something they never had before, at least, not while looking at her baby boy. Was I really seeing what I thought I was?

Could that really be fear?