Joss left the school grounds with a large smile on her face. She knew that she would have no problem getting the permission slip signed by her parents, especially her mother, when she explained what the experiment was about and who was involved in it with her. She could still show Tom to be a coward, no matter the excuse he came up with.
Tom was halfway towards his house he knew that there was no way that his mum would agree to this stupid experiment. He had only put his hand up after he had noticed Joss glaring at him. She was daring him to volunteer without even saying the words. He had thought she would have forgotten that thing with her hair a while back; she had gotten a free haircut out of it anyway. Her hair must be easier to deal with now that it is shorter.
Joss reached her front door. “Anyone home?” She called out. Only to get no reply, as she thought she would. Her dad would be back in half an hour, and her mum about an hour after that. She tried to work out who she should give the experiment outline to. Her dad was the ever-practical scientist; he had been teaching at a nearby high school for the last five years now, but she was not sure that he would understand her need for revenge on Tom.
Her mother, on the other hand, being a sociology professor, might see the value in the experiment, but above that, she would certainly remember the afternoon she had spent consoling her daughter after the haircut. Yes, her mother would be the best one, so she went up to her room to change and would forget (accidentally, of course) all about the experiment until her mother got back, then she would suddenly remember all about it.
Tom looked at the clock in his kitchen and knew that his mum would be back in a little while once she had picked up his annoying little sister from dance practice. She had this every Friday afternoon. He dumped the experiment outline on the kitchen counter for his mum to see when she got back. He didn’t need to hide it from her; there was no way that she would sign it. With that thought in his head, he went upstairs to get changed.
A short time later, Patricia McLaughlin walked into her home with her daughter behind her.
“Mum, what's for dinner tonight?” Kathy McLaughlin asked her mother.
“I thought spaghetti biologize tonight,” Patricia answered.
“Sounds good to me, mum,” Kathy replied.
“Judging by the school bag lying in the hall, your brother is home from school. Can you let him know that everything will be ready in about half an hour?” Patricia asked Kathy.
“No problem, Mum,” Kathy said as she went upstairs.
Patricia turned towards her kitchen to start on the evening meal. She had prepared the meal before going to pick up Kathy, which made things easier. Raising two kids on her own was not easy, but she thought that she was doing ok. She couldn’t have wished for two better kids. Kathy could be a handful sometimes; she seemed to be so full of energy, something that she had gotten from her father, Patricia thought. She had always been a little bit more thoughtful, yes, that was what she was. She took her time and thought about her actions before doing anything.
Thomas was a strange mix of her and his father. He would act on impulse and then worry about the consequences later. Like that time had put chewing gum in that girl’s hair a few weeks back.
Then she saw the sheets of paper lying on the counter. I wonder what this is, she thought to herself as she moved to pick them up. She saw that it was Thomas’s school.
“What has he done this time?” Patricia said out loud.
She opened them and began to read them. A school project she saw at the top of the page, it was only when she reached the part about her son wearing a girls’ school uniform to school that she put the paper down and shouted the words that all children have come to dread over the years. “Thomas McLaughlin, get down here right now.”
Upstairs in his room, Tom knew that he was in trouble for something because she had used his full name. She only ever did that when he was in trouble. He hadn’t done anything to get himself in trouble, had he? Then he remembered the experiment outline that he had left for her to find. Sounded like she had found it. This was it, judging by the sound of her voice, she wasn’t happy about it, so there was no way that she would agree to him taking part in it, was there?
“Coming, Mum,” He replied as he went down to explain what she had found.
Professor Alexandria Ellis arrived home about five minutes before Patricia McLaughlin had shouted on her son.
She had a long day at the university. She had long since stopped regretting taking the promotion a few years back. She knew that they could do with the money. The responsibility that came with the job was something that she had gotten used to. The one thing that she didn’t like about the job was the administration, and this being the last Friday of the month meant the monthly heads of department meeting. She knew that this was to make sure that everything ran smoothly, but sometimes, just sometimes, it became a fight over who had the biggest ego or who thought they were the most important department in the university.
When she had entered teaching, all she wanted to do was to teach. Over the years, she had gained a reputation as being a very good teacher in her chosen subject, which had led to her being headhunted to join the staff at the university. She was well-liked by her students and had climbed the ladder that had led to her becoming head of her department a few years ago.
“Jocelyn Susan Ellis, come down here.” She shouted
Much like Tom, Joss was thinking about what she had done. Her mum only used her full name when she had done something wrong, but as far as she was aware, she hadn’t done anything. Still, she went downstairs and found her mother in the sitting room.
“Hi Mum,” Joss said tentatively to her mother.
“Where is it?” Alexandria asked her
“Where is what?” Joss asked in return,
“I had a call from a certain Joan Fitzpatrick before I left work today,” Alexandria said with a small smile on her face.
“Oh.” It was the only thing that Joss could think of in reply.
“Oh indeed. She told me all about the experiment that your gender studies teacher had come up with.” Alexandria told her daughter.
“She did,” Joss replied, trying to sound less nervous than she was. She had planned to tell her mother later that evening in her own way so that she could guarantee her signature on the permission slip. Now it looked like her principal had beaten her to it.
“Yes, she did. She thought that you might forget to mention it to me or your father for some reason. I can’t think of any reason you wouldn’t tell either of us about school work you have, can you?” Alexandria asked with a look on her face that said she would take no nonsense from her daughter.
“No, Ma'am,” Joss said, adding the Ma'am " to acknowledge the authority of her mother.
“Good, good. Now, if you could get the information so that I can see it for myself, please.” Alexandria asked, well, not so much asked as told her daughter.
“I must have left it in my bag. I will go and look for it.” Joss said, leaving the room to retrieve the sheets of paper from the spot on her desk where she had left them earlier.
“Good, I look forward to reading it with my coffee,” Alexandria informed Joss.
Meanwhile
Patricia McLaughlin had not only finished reading the documents that Tom had left on the kitchen counter but had also questioned her son about their contents. He had told her that it was something that Ms. Sloan had come up with, and he had been drafted in to taking part in. She didn’t push the matter any further that evening; she just laughed at the thought of Tom in the girls’ uniform at school. It brought a smile to her face every time she thought about it that night. She would have to ask Miranda about it when she called her later. Although a few years her senior, the two women had become friends over the last few years. They seemed to move in the same social circles. When Miranda had started to teach Tom a few months back, they had agreed that whatever happened in her classroom was her responsibility and that Patricia would not interfere with it. This was not interfering with; this was just confirming what her son had told her. Surely there would be no problem with that.
Back at the Ellis house
Joss had given her mother the paperwork she had asked for and went back to her room after her mother told her their meal would be ready soon. Alexandria made no mention of it when Joss came back down a short time later. The Ellis’ ate their evening meal, and still nothing was said about it. Joss wondered why she was not one for forgetting things, especially her daughter ‘s schoolwork.
Alexandria had noticed Joss’ worried look throughout the evening. She was not sure how much longer she would be able to remain quiet on the subject. She had decided to talk to her husband when Joss was not in the room, so they could discuss the experiment without Joss interrupting them, but so far this evening, she had not had the chance to have such a discussion.
