I had a heart-stopping moment today.
At around the time when I was supposed to go down to the lobby to wait for Cass to arrive home, I received a call from her class teacher. OH. NO!! Calls from the schools and teachers are NEVER good. Never once good.
My heart literally stopped for a few seconds… until I heard Cass’ voice.
Cass – hi mum. I am still in school. Aunty Jane left without me.
Me – HUH??? What happened? Were you punished by the teacher and asked to stay back?
Cass – No. When I went there (the same place where Aunty Jane parks her van), she wasn’t there anymore.
And then the line went dead.
I panicked with heart in my mouth.
I quickly called back Cass’ teacher’s number. And then called the van driver to find out what happened.
I knew that the van driver was in a haste to send off this batch of students so that she could rush off to pick up another batch of students. She’s a single mum with college-going kids struggling to make ends meet and has been ferrying students from dawn till dusk. This is the same van driver who had left Alycia behind in school when Alycia was Cass’ age now 5 years ago. The situation was much worse with Alycia. When Aunty Jane reached my condo, she called me to inform me that she could not see Alycia in the van. Can you imagine my shock on hearing the news?
Back to Cass. When I called Aunty Jane to find out what happened, she was too embarrassed to admit that she left my daughter behind again but later admitted. It was her second time for Pete’s sake. She told me that half way through the journey, she realized that Cass wasn’t in the van and she made a U-turn to pick her up. I chided her and again asked her how she could have left out my child again. Doesn’t she do roll-calling anymore? Check-list of names? I suggested all these safety measures to her 5 years ago after she left Alycia behind in school. And she did it again now! Sigh!!
Long story short, I was so so glad and relieved to see Cass when she alighted from the van today. I gave her hugs and kisses. And I pray that this will never happen to any of my daughters ever again.
Picture taken last Saturday. My baby girl did the tough job of hammering crab shells to de-shell crab meat to feed me! She knows I hate getting my hands dirty and stinky from deshelling crabs and has since years ago volunteered to go at it hammer and tongs deshelling crab shells for her beloved mummy 🙂
And the chunkiest claw meat, the best part of the crab goes to me! 😀
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