The Countdown

Wednesday, May 31, 1995

In the minutes between parking my bike in the teachers’ lounge (Mary’s out, the library closed) and my trek to first period, I’m sitting, looking over my mail, shooting the shit with Johnston, Coach Smith, and Espinoza. A regular testosterone-fest. In walks Mira, who punches me in the shoulder as she strolls by, asking, "Hey, BikerBoy, what’s new?"

I look up, smiling. "Thirteen."

She stops, stares blankly. Huh?

Johnston laughs. "She’s so young."

She looks up... almost concern. Is this some Y-chromosome joke?

Smith explains. "The countdown."

A broad grin spreads across her face. "Oh, that. I’ve had that on my board for the last week and a half."

"You know," I say, "I’ve never done the countdown before. But after this year..." Johnston (who, we’ve learned, is considering applying for a coaching position at Academy High) nods; he knows. "Thirteen," I smile.

Espinoza: "Less with Seniors."

Johnston (Grinning): "I feel better already."

Smith: "Count ‘em down, Bob."

Johnston: "‘Course, what I want to know is: is that work days?"

Espinoza: "Eleven and a half."

Mira: "What?"

But Johnston is already nodding.

Espinoza (still looking at his mail): "Three minimum days. Half days. Add ‘em up. Makes it eleven days, time-wise." He finally looks up: either serious or one seriously dry wit. "Thirteen ‘show-ups’, but eleven days."

Smith (laughing): "Professor Fuckin’ Espinoza... ‘show-ups’..."

Johnston: "Now I feel really good..." He looks across at me and smiles.

We say together, Bob, Mira, and I: "Eleven."

And the bell rings.

And while I can’t wait for the year to end, I actually wish I had a few more weeks. And, believe it or not, I want those weeks with the Nines. With only a dozen days left with them, I won’t be able to squeeze in the BarCoding cooperative projects. The English Nines were going to be the real test to see if the project could work on all levels (it worked in a standard Reading class last year and CP freshman English this year, but that is apples and oranges). The only problem is that I need at least two weeks to do it properly, and the next two weeks I’ll need to finish Romeo and Juliet (which, by, the way is going very, very well [as yesterday we killed off Tybalt and Mercutio]). That would leave only four class periods to do the project... not nearly enough time. It is disappointing, to say the least.

Regrets, I’ve had a few... like not getting this project done before I left the Land of the Nines (last year I was going to do it, but I was gone the final two weeks waiting for Kyle’s arrival; fall term was spent working it in with the CP Ones; this was my last chance). The only question is

Will Elvis leave the building?