LITTLE GIRL BLUE / ARA & WILL
--- @williamdelauo
The last two weeks had been heaven and hell at the same time. It was surreal, really. It was a mix of excitement and nervousness, a mix of missing home and enjoying where she currently was. Ara Gamboa had never before left the Philippines; yet here she was now, living in a country miles and miles away from home, and hoping to make something of herself as she moved on from what had happened to her mother. On one hand, there was looking forward to that; on the other, she couldn’t help but want to go home.
Had she been idle on her toes and idle in her mind, Ara would surely have done the next reckless thing by grabbing a ticket back to Manila. Had she had too much time on her hands, she would have cried and cried because she would later realize that she didn’t have that much cash. Her therapist always did tell her that it was a good thing to have other things to do, though. Thus, Ara busied herself with work and with moving into her new apartment so as to ease her mind.
And, like her therapist always said, it worked. As Ara busied herself and attempted to take her mind off thinking and thinking about going back home, she became more at ease. It helped that her new job was a beautiful thing; her students were angels, and she loved them all despite not having memorized their names yet. The way they held onto her hands, ran their hands through her hair, told her how grateful they were to have a new teacher. If she would stay for any reason at all, she would stay for these children.
Today was such a day, though. Today was such a day because children were to bring their parents to school. While it was a good idea in and of itself, it meant that some children would be parentless due to busy schedules or missing fathers and mothers; and Ara who grew up without a father understood what this felt like. She was holding the hands and speaking to one of her students whose parents couldn’t come when Sophia, another child, bright and beautiful and wonderful in all her ways, arrived and grabbed hold of her hand. There was a smile on the little girl’s lips; she kept tugging on Ara until Ara had to excuse herself and follow.
“Teacher, teacher! I want you to meet my dad!” the little girl said.
Ara understood, as there was quite a number of students who wanted their new teacher to meet their parents. So, she smiled, let herself be tugged in the direction that the child wanted, and said, “Okay! I’m sure I’ll be glad to meet him!”