After hearing Roxanne’s reply, Archie and Benny became concerned. “So, are you still going, Mommy?” they asked. Roxanne read their minds, and shook her head passively.
The two boys thought she meant she was not going, so they anxiously tugged at her and whined, “Mommy, you gave us your promise, so you can’t take back your word! If you don’t want to talk to Mr. Farwell, we will keep him from you!”
Roxanne was amused by their reactions. She ruffled their hair affectionately and assured them, “Don’t worry. Since I gave you my word, I will definitely honor it. Moreover, Ms. Ward has already finalized the groupings, so mommy can’t possibly trouble her to make changes now, can I?”
The boys heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing her assurance.
However, Roxanne’s heart sank as she thought about the one she had to partner with. “Do you know which play we are doing?” she probed.
She heard from Pippa that the children drew lots to see which play they would be involved in, so she was positive Archie and Benny knew the answer.
Upon hearing her question, Benny ran to his bag and dug into it for a while. Then he came back with a piece of crumpled paper, likely the piece they got from the draw earlier that day.
Roxanne froze on the spot after she took a look at that piece of paper.
Neatly written on the paper were the words Sleeping Beauty. For the benefit of the children, their teacher even added phonetic alphabets under the words.
“Mommy, do you know this story?” Benny looked up at Roxanne and curiously asked.
Roxanne did not have the habit of reading bedtime stories to the boys. On the rare occasions when she did, she also would not pick fairy tales about princes and princesses for the boys. As such, the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty was alien to Archie and Benny
Roxanne was at a loss for words, not knowing how to answer Benny’s question about the storyline.
Her mind was on the play. She could imagine the roles of Sleeping Beauty and the prince would likely fall on her and Lucian. Knowing how the storyline was, she became anxious.
If she had known earlier that their play was Sleeping Beauty, Roxanne would never have agreed to participate. Alas, it was too late for her to back out.
After contemplating for a while, Roxanne looked at the kids and said, “Mommy’s going to make a phone call, so you boys should stay quiet and don’t make too much noise, okay?”
The kids obediently nodded their heads.
Roxanne took out her phone and called Jeffrey Bauer, the head of the kids’ kindergarten.
Pippa had told her in the afternoon that only Jeffrey could make changes to the groupings for the plays. Roxanne desperately wanted to switch to another group. If that was not possible, she would request a change in the play.
She frowned and disappointedly hung up after receiving a busy tone. After a short wait, she was about to call again when Jeffrey returned her call.
“Hi, Ms. Jarvis. Sorry I missed your call. How can I help you?” Jeffrey asked.
Roxanne apologetically replied, “I’m so sorry for calling you at this hour, Mr. Bauer. May I know if it’s still possible to make changes to the groupings for the anniversary celebration performances?”
At the other end of the phone, a conscience-stricken expression appeared on Jeffrey’s face when he heard Roxanne’s request. He was quick to compose himself and patiently explained, “As you know, our kindergarten is a little different from the usual ones in that all the parents are busy professionals.
The groupings for the performances were finalized after many rounds of consultation and discussion with all the parents. If we wish to make any changes, we’ll have to go through another tedious round of coordination with the other parents. I’m afraid that’s going to be challenging… Moreover, our activities for the anniversary celebration are about to commence next week.
If we are to make any changes now, we may not have sufficient time for rehearsals. I can foresee that’s going to affect the performance…” He gave Roxanne the impression that her request would make things difficult for everyone.
After the subtle rejection, he asked with concern, “Is there any particular reason for you wanting to switch to another group?”
