I'm Dan
by David Powell
They come in and introduce themselves as the parents of Tammy. American, secular Jews, interested in their daughter's education. Father is on secondment with an N.G.O.. We’re on first-name terms within thirty seconds.
"Hi, I'm Dan. This is my wife Ruthie."
"Jeff Bridges. Pleased to meet you."
"Hey, like the actor but English."
"Yes, I get that a lot."
"You get it a lot and you're sick of hearing it. Am I right?" says Ruthie.
"No, no, no of course not...but I do get it a lot."
"So tell me, Jeff, how's she getting on in er..." he looks at the appointment sheet. “...History."
"She's an excellent student. She's very good at interpreting sources and has a real insight into some of the stuff that we're doing.
They look pleased - relieved even.
"Tell us a little about what you're doing at the moment," says Ruthie.
"The Elizabethan Religious Settlement, and the power of the Monarchy in Britain 1500 to 1702."
"Oh, wow. Interesting stuff. That's like ancient history for us. We do envy you English with all your old buildings and Romans and Saxons." she says.
Whilst his wife is speaking, Dan's gaze darts around the room to look at the other parents.
"Did you hear that, Dan? The Elizabethan Settlement and the power of the Monarchy."
"Sounds quite hard, but she's coping OK?" says Dan.
"Well, I try to make it as interesting as possible and yes, she's doing fine - more than fine actually." Dan fixes me in his gaze for a moment as though he’s trying to making up his mind about me.
"She can be difficult, at home I mean, if she doesn't understand something," he says.
"Oh, come on, Honey. She's not that bad," Ruthie says and strokes Dan's arm. "She's just eager to learn. She's a perfectionist."
"Well, as I've said, she's doing very well indeed. I think perhaps her work could be a little neater, but really that's beside the point - they say Einstein had terrible handwriting."
"Has she got awful handwriting?" says Dan.
"Well it's not 'awful' but she could improve it if you wanted to give her a target for next term," I say.
"You haven’t mentioned it to her yet?" Ruthie says. "As Dan said, she can be difficult with negativity."
"She should have something to work towards. I don’t really see how-"
“Don’t say anything...please.” Ruthie says.
Dan leans in closer to me and lowers his voice slightly although they'd already been speaking quietly.
"Have you noticed anything strange about Tammy?" he says, hurrying the words out.
"Dan don't, don't make her angry," Ruthie says.
"Shut up, Ruthie! She's not even here. I have to tell someone. I feel like I’m going insane."
"She'll know, Dan. She'll know."
"How do you mean 'strange'?" I say. I feel embarrassed for them.
"I mean, the colour of her eyes for instance. One day they're blue and the next they're brown," he says.
"No, well I can't say as I -,"
"Or do things sometimes just disappear in front of you?"
"There's theft in all schools but I’m sure Tammy's -"
"She made the dog disappear. I saw it," Dan says. "She surprised him one day and he went to bite her. It was an instinctual reaction. He didn't mean it. She made him disappear. She pointed at him and he just kinda faded away." He is red and flustered. His eyes look watery.
"Please, Dan. Don’t"
"God help us, Jeff. She’s not -"
"Hiya." Tammy booms from behind them. "I hope you're saying nice things about me."
Her eyes are brown.
Ruthie jumps, Dan stifles a scream.
"HONEY... you made us jump," Ruthie says. She squeezes Dan’s hand.
"Can we go for Pizza later?" Tammy asks. "I'm starving!"
"Of course, honey...absolutely. How was the game?" Ruthie says, a hint of hysteria in her voice.
"OK, we won. That Sonia Carmichael fouled me though. Look!" She shows a dark bruise on her white-socked ankle.
"Oh God, I hope she apologised after," Dan says.
"No, she didn't. Doesn't matter. It's too late now."
Dan puts a hand to his temple and rubs in small, hard circles.
I stand, offer my hand and say, "Well, if you need to speak to me again, just call." I want them to go now. They're obviously quite mad - the pair of them.
Ruthie and Dan shake hands with me - they look embarrassed and avoid eye-contact. It was as though their little outburst had never happened.
"Come on you guys, let's go!" Tammy says and skips to the door of the classroom. "Bye, Mr Bridges. See you Monday."
They never did find Sonia Carmichael. After the Basketball match no one ever saw her again. It was as though she just disappeared.
We had a remembrance service for her.
Tammy always gets good marks in History
THE END
David Powell has worked as a professional musician, photographer and Tyre fitter. He lives in Italy.. Contact David..
