Parent-Teacher Conference

"I was called out of town Friday at the last minute and I felt guilty about not making our meeting. Didn't you get my message?"

'Message? What message?' I froze in my tracks for a moment, suddenly I felt so used and betrayed. 'Who the hell did I meet with and fuck on Friday?' Smiling to hide my humiliation and shame, I said, "Well, would you like me to tell you what I told your husband when he met with me on Friday?"

At this point, she looked confused, and asked "My husband?"

"Yes," I said. "Mr. Stone came here about five-ish, I think, and we talked about your son. I remember because he scared me at first because I didn't hear him come in."

Her face went pale and she sat down in the same chair he was in just a few days ago. She looked up at me and said, "I think you might be mistaken Ms. Perry. My husband is in Spain right now on a training mission. He's been there for over 3 weeks."

Now I was confused. Whom did I meet with? In a way, my question was answered when I walked over to my desk and found the report card, the message about Mrs. Stone, and a note with a long-stemmed, red rose that read:

I'm sorry for the deception. I promise I'll explain later who I really am. I hope you'll be willing to meet with me again.

~O

I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to tell her everything. Instead, I cleared my throat and said, "Oh, you're right. I had your husband confused with a different father who came by to talk about his son and was running late. Since I originally had two parents scheduled for Friday, he was a last minute add-on as he had to leave for Europe on Saturday and begged me to meet with him, I squeezed him in. I guess since I only had two parents scheduled, and I met with two parents, I got mixed up. I'm sorry Mrs. Stone. Here's your son's report card."

I'm sure I was blushing when we went over the grades. I think she bought my lame excuse, but what else could I say. 'A man who claimed to be your husband showed up, took me to dinner, and rocked my world?' I gave her the same explanation I had given the mystery man about the report card. When it was all over, she shook my hand and said, "I can see your dedication. And your walls are beautifully decorated. May I look at them?"

"Um, oh yes, of course," I said.

I looked at my walls, and hoped she wouldn't think me too lazy for not finishing up what I started on Friday. That was when I realized that all the papers I had been working on when the fake 'Mr. Stone' arrived were now neatly hanging on my wall, my stapler was back on my desk, in its normal place, and the stepladder was back under the window. I also noticed that a tear in the butcher paper background that I was going to hide with work was removed and replaced with a fresh piece of butcher paper. Now I was really confused, but I chose not to dwell on it.

Later that day, I found a note in my school mailbox that said,

I hope you don't mind that I fixed your wall and finished hanging the papers. I hope I did it the way you wanted it done.

There was no signature, but I already knew who wrote it, the question was, why?

____________________________________

It's been over two months since that conference, and even though I haven't seen that mystery man again, I know he's around. Every Friday morning, I find a long red rose on my desk with a note that says:

I'm sorry for the deception. I promise I'll explain later who I really am. I hope you'll be willing to meet with me again.

~O

I've thought about going to that restaurant we went to, but I decided that if this mystery man really wants to explain, he will. So, next Thursday, I'm leaving him a note on my desk that says:

I've gotten your notes, and I'm willing to talk and listen to your explanation and meet you again. Please, don't make me wait forever.

~A

If he's serious, he'll find me. If this is a hoax, then I have great memories of a naughty tryst in a restaurant booth.