The Songbird

1

The phone rang out of the blue as she walked in the door to her house. Larissa Walker was debating if she wanted to answer it as the answering machine picked up to save her the problem of answering it. She heard the voice she would know anywhere and smiled as she went over to the phone and picked it up.

“Larissa?” the woman’s voice asked, and Larissa smiled.

“Hi, Mrs. Libby.” Larissa said with a small laugh, “I just walked in the door.”

“So that is why you were screening the phone call then.” The older woman stated.

”No, I mean I literary just walked into the house.” Larissa countered, “How can I help you?”

The older woman laughed at her in a way that was familiar and brought her back to one of the best times in her life. She was back in high school for that one year, and she was in the best class she ever took. Larissa was smiling as she remembered the one teacher who told her to do whatever made her happy in life and to stop listening to everyone else. Now at close to twenty-three, it had been well over ten years since those days in her class, but the older woman had never given up on her. She delighted in knowing everything the younger woman was doing in life and at work.

“I need your help.” The older woman said as she got serious. “I know that you aren’t a teacher, but I need a stand-in one that I trust for a month or so.”

“Why can’t the school get one for you?” Larissa asked.

“Like I said, I need one that I trust.” Mrs. Libby stated. “The salary isn’t all that much, and I will leave the lesson plans for you, and it is during the day, so you don’t have to worry about it affecting your other job at the hospital. I do know what is important, and your job as a doctor is that.”

“But.” Larissa started to say and then remembered that she owed this woman a lot because of her support over the years. The older woman had never asked her for anything except details of her life. Larissa thought that maybe it was time that she did finally repay the older woman. “I think I can make it work for a month.”

“You can?” The older woman asked with a slight surprise, “I really didn’t expect that you would, but I am so glad that you will try at least.”

“Now, may I know why you are asking me this?” Larissa asked with a laugh. She thought of the older woman. She had been the one who really had believed in Larissa while she was in high school. Most of the other teachers had never tried to understand the young girl who was in their classes. It wasn’t like Larissa had asked for her ‘gift,’ as so many had called it. That gift was a curse to the young woman as she thought about it. 

“I have a new teacher, Gabe. He is totally unqualified for the job, but he is a new teacher this year. He needs some major help as his class is underperforming, and I have to go sit in on his classes for a month.” The older woman said with slight disgust. “He isn’t even on the same level as the high school, but he is one of the six-grade teachers. The administration wants me to help him because I seem to have the knack. It seems that my perfectionism in my classes and the teachers I trained is well known.”

“Well, that does make sense.” She said with a slight laugh. “You made a doctor out of me when I was ten years old.”

“No, you made yourself a doctor when you were that age.” The older woman said, “I just helped you along a little bit. You are completely self-made. Don’t ever think that you weren’t.”

“Think what you will.” Larissa laughed as she smiled at the phone. “When do you want me to start?”

“Tomorrow.” The older woman stated, and Larissa knew that the next day was her day off. She could at least get some sleep before having to go to the school again. That was the one thing she wasn’t looking forward to. The high school where she had gone too, but at the same time, she hadn’t. Her life had been a small dream for a while and a whirlwind at the same time. She didn’t want to go back, but for this one woman, she would revisit her history for a little while. “But I need you to come in today to get some paperwork done.”

“Let me change, and I will be on my way,” Larissa said as she looked at the scrubs that she was in. This would be the thing the students saw her in, but she would wear something a little less professional doctor today when she went in to see the older woman again. The phone was now put down. She went to the back of her house and looked around the room, knowing most of what she had to wear was either formal attire or scrubs. Though she did manage to locate a pair of black pants to cover her short legs and a sweater that would be nice before the day got to be too hot.

As she brushed out her shoulder-length hair and looked in the mirror, she realized not much had changed in her since she had gone to the school the first time. She was a little taller but not much. At a little less than five feet tall, she was as small as a young teenager. Being this young and in her profession, she often had to deal with the jabs at her appearance and everything else. Her lack of a partner was one thing that she had gotten used to. That was her last goal in life to find someone to grow with and possibly settle down and begin a new family to replace the one she left behind when she had turned eighteen.

She wasn’t lonely per se, but she did have a few issues with dealing with the fact she was by herself most of the time. She had a small hope that maybe she would find that one she had dreamed of. Larissa looked at herself in the mirror one last time before she grabbed her bag and walked out the door. Right now was not the time to think about any of that. It was time to go help an old friend out. Even if that meant going into hell to do it.