Svetlana saw her school and her heart started to beat so fast, that it became difficult to walk. She stood on the school porch to calm down. Then she opened the door and entered the school.
– Hello Valentina Ivanovna! – She hugged the aged receptionist. – You can’t imagine how glad I am to see you!
– Thank you for your care and attention, Svetlana. How is your health?
– Oh! It is getting better and better, Valentina Ivanovna! Tell me the latest school news, please!
– Everything is the same. The kids will arrive soon; it is almost the time for the first class.
– Do we have any new teachers?
– Not for now. Who knows, may be we will soon.
– All right, Valentina Ivanovna, I better go and prepare for the class. I’ll talk to you later.
– Yes dear. God bless you.
– Thank you. I’ll see you soon.
Svetlana was walking slowly down the empty school corridors, remembering the years of her teaching experience. When she entered her class, she was not surprised that the door knob was missing. “Hmm could be worse”, – thought Svetlana. She looked around the empty class and smiled. Then she touched the desk with her figure and was not surprised again to see tons of dust. She soaked the piece of cloth in water and started to wipe off desks and chairs, trying to remember where her students were sitting. She did not like that the floor was dirty too. However, the cleaner assisted her out and cleaned the floor, while she washed the blackboard. Svetlana was busy with making her class a neat place, and only the school bell made her leave the cleaning tools and open the class doors. Students were entering the class, they greeted her and organized study places. Svetlana really enjoyed teaching children, sharing knowledge with them. She tried to prepare them for the future life and help them to form personalities. Svetlana felt that school was her second life. She could not live without it; school life absorbed her totally. When she was there, it felt as thought she appeared in another world, like the diver at the sea bottom or like the cosmonaut in space. It was a really unforgettable feeling.
– Hello, sit down please! Nadia, what do we have today on schedule, Russian language or literature? Who is absent?
– We have literature today. Maxim is missing.
Teacher’s face changed when she heard it, but she got herself together:
– What is the reason he is missing? What happened?
– He broke his leg before the New Year. He got the gypsum removed recently. He’ll start attending classes when he starts walking.
– How will he study if he can’t come to school?
After this question Svetlana thought that students were aware of her call to Maxim. Seemed like they knew she told him of her not being able to visit him, because they answered her unwillingly. “I don’t think I can do it now either, – she thought. – It is even more difficult now…”
– Well, some lessons he is covering with teachers who visit him, and some he is studying independently to pass them in school later – answered Andrew, a friend of Max.
– How do you know about it, Andrew?
– I visited him recently, he feels better.
– That’s great!
Svetlana was not comfortable asking questions about Maxim. She could call him, even come over and find out herself…
That idea scared her. Becoming confused by these thoughts, she lost her an interest in teaching a class and even thought: “May be it is better just to talk to students? They can cover the topic independently. No, may be I should give a class? Probably the best thing to do is to ask the students directly”.
