THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER

THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER

Oh, my God, that Cathy V. was at least a problematic person ( woman), that she was not suitable to her  job , that she also had the easy slap with the children entrusted to her, this Zeta knew it well. In fact she was, for more than ten years, a mediator between the teachers, of the kindergarten The Sacred Heart and the parents of the children who attended the kindergarten. Cathy V. had also received disciplinary measures, she had even been suspended for a year from her work ( job). But, on, that now she, a terrible woman, yes, was even suspected of being involved in some organization that kidnapped children to sell them to people  who wanted to adopt them or, even worse, to people who would kill them to harvest their organs, but , come on, she, Zeta couldn’t believe it. It was only because of the dislike, the aversion , but even the hostility which that blessed woman had earned from the parents of her pupils, that she could be suspected of such an atrocity. Now , in the last three months three children, who attended the Sacred Heart kindergarten, had disappeared. Two of these, two little boys of four years, were in Cathy’s class. And the third, Agnes, was not in her class, but she lived next  to the teacher Cathy V.,  with whom she often came back home.  Agnes, the day she( had) disappeared, (she) would have go back home together Cathy V., as the teacher had assured to Agnes’ mother. WHO, if not she, the teacher Cathy V. , could be responsible for the disappearance of the little girl? The parents of Agnes claimed, very furiously. But she, Cathy V., argued that ,unfortunately, at the end of the lessons, she had not found Agnes. Therefore, the little girl had to have disappeared before being able to meet ( before meeting) with her, as established, in the kindergarten garden. Agnes’ mother was so much sure that Cathy V. was responsible for her child’s kidnapping , that she kept asking that woman to be arrested. She had also tried to attack her neighbor.

Ah, then the parents of the other two missing children , both in the class of Cathy V., would have gladly torn that woman to pieces. Even previously they had often quarreled with her, since their children kept complaining about their teacher almost every they. They told that she scolded them even without any reason, and that she often opposed their requests to go to the bathroom, and that she also beat them. And then that woman, a real monster, the angry parents claimed, she had kidnapped them , their children, oh, to sell them, sure.                                                                   Ah, if that blessed woman had changed jobs, as she, Zeta, had already suggested to do several times, when she had had to work hard to restore calm ( to calm things down) between the teacher Cathy V. and the enraged parents of her pupils.

When , after the three children had disappeared, Zeta could talk face to face with her , she reminded  the teacher of her advice : But , damnation, WHY didn’t she change jobs?   Moreover she ( Zeta) knew that Cathy V.  could also teach in elementary and middle school.

The answer of the teacher had left her stunned. “ But why should I change? I’m not interested in teaching older children than these “ she ( had ) said, calmly, without in the least flinging. And when Zeta had pointed to her that, yet, she didn’t seem to have the necessary patience to take care of such small children, that incredible woman had come out with: “ Oh, but also to the mothers, even to the grandmothers of these children  it will happen to scold them and to give them a slap , too, sometimes “   Yes, she seemed to see nothing particularly inappropriate or reprehensible  in the way she behaving with the children entrusted to her.  Ah, just an incredible (amazing) woman teacher Cathy V.! Even in front of the terrible, infamous  accusation of being implicated in the disappearance of the three children, she  had remained impassible. It seemed she was not even the slightest bit touched by it, indeed, it seemed that it did not concern her. “Come on, how could I have succeeded in the kidnapping of these children? I should have, at least, some accomplices. Oh, listen’s , who would be  my accomplices? An almost centennial great-aunt and a cat ?...ah…I have also some goose  ….” She said nonchalantly. The amazing teacher seemed almost to make a mockery of all those who held her responsible for the disappearance of the three little kindergarten pupils. Come on, it was pretty and good nonsense! The parents of the little ones were completely out of the way to suspect her. Meanwhile Zeta did not know how to keep good the parents and the friends  of the three disappeared children, for whom the teacher Cathy V. had become a scapegoat. Yes, shocked by the disappearance of the children, it was as if they needed someone to blame for their disappearance. Since it would have been more unbearable for them , Zeta thought, to have no one to blame for what had happened, or to have to think that it had been some stranger , lurking on the way between kindergarten and home to make disappear ( to take away) their little ones . But then, how could they, the parents, be so sure that their children had been kidnapped? Couldn’t it had happened that they were lost, instead? Yes, that the children had been not able to find their way home. And Zeta thought they, the parents couldn’t handle that ( this) possibility because, if that was the case, they would have to blame themselves for the disappearance of their little children, who(m) they had let go home alone.  Or couldn’t it have been that the three children had decided to leave, that they didn’t want to go home or to kindergarten anymore? She, Zeta, couldn’t help but think about this eventuality, too, no matter how absurd and unlikely  it could seem. But, come on, they were children of just four years. Where could they have gone on their own……She said to herself.  Sure, it gave one to wonder the regularity with which they had disappeared : one a month, for three months in a row. That regularity made one think of an organization, of someone who had planned their disappearance.

Of course teacher Cathy V. could have been a link in such an organization. After all, she knew better than others the children who had disappeared. She could have pointed out them to the kidnappers. And yet Zeta could not see her in that role.  That woman, though too easily she lost the patience with the children , and even she slapped them, she still remained, even if she was a difficult person, too direct, too impulsive for Zeta to see her, imagine her in such a sordid, shady role as that of the procurer of children ( that of hunter children) for a gang of kidnappers.

Zeta was also surprised when the teacher Cathy said her what she thought about the disappearance of the three children. She ( Zeta) would have expected to hear that the teacher thought the disappeared children had been victims of some pedophile, or even of some pedophile organization. “ No, I don’t think  pedophiles have to do with the disappearance of these  three little ones” The teacher said, shaking her head. And when Zeta had insisted on knowing   what she( the teacher) thought about how, why, at whose hands those children had disappeared ( had gone missing), she , the teacher, shaking her head, looking at the ground, had said: “ Ah, it’s hard to say…it’s hard to make someone understand” Then she had remained ( had been) silent for a long time, while she kept shaking her head and avoiding to look at Zeta, who kept asking. Was she thinking perhaps that  some misfortune, some accident had happened? But the children had been found neither alive nor dead.

When she had started speaking again, that incredible woman ( the teacher) had come out with  a conviction ( something) that, to say the least, had left Zeta dumbfounded, but even quite upset, indeed. “ You know, sometimes children , when they are not well in their family, with their parents, they can fantasize about other parents they would like to have. And sometimes they end up believing that those who claim to be their mother and their father, they are not at all such.

Some children can even come to believe  that they had been exchanged soon after their birth  (they were born). So these children can be convinced that they have to look for….their real parents “ The teacher had said, leaving her stunned. “ Do you mean that such small ( young) children would have gone away on their own, to look for….their real parents? And this, that is, precisely the same thing , would all the three children have done? Oh, it seems totally impossible to me. I can’t at all believe it”  Zeta had exclaimed, feeling more and more disconcerted. Really she didn’t know what she had to think about that very strange woman, the teacher. That she was making fun of her? Or, that she was really ( actually) involved in the disappearance of the three children and, therefore she tried to confuse her( with her words)? Yes, that she was deliberately telling her lies?  “ And then…oh, it may be that I am not sufficiently informed, but it seems to me that none of these ( three) children have ( had) a difficult family situation “ Zeta had said, when she had been again able to speak. “ As far as I know , theirs are all normal, quiet families, with parents who take care of their children, who care of their children’s well-being” She had continued saying, but, as she kept speaking, the way the other was looking at her had caused her to doubt what she was saying. Yes, she had to realize, despite what she was affirming, that she knew nothing about the life of those three children in their respective families, that she didn’t know which were the relationship  they had with their parents. The teacher Cathy had then informed her that all the missing children lived an heavy family situation, with parents who quarreled constantly.  Ah, Zeta didn’t know….However she couldn’t believe it was possible that the three children had gone away on their own, they were too young. “ Ah, I knew you couldn’t understand….You must never have lived in a difficult family, right?” The teacher had asked her. Then she had told: “ Well, instead I, when I was a child, when I was about the same age as these children, I left home. I couldn’t handle my parents anymore. “ Ah, but  later you will have been back home, you will have been back with your parents “ Zeta stammered, more and more stunned. “ But no. I never went back home. I never went back to live with my parents” She, the teacher said. “ Oh, and where did you go? Don’t you mean that you really started  looking for….your real ( true) parents and, oh, that you even found them?” Zeta asked, but as if joking, as if hers was not a real question and, therefore, it did not need an answer . And, instead, that one, the teacher answered, all precise, seriously. “ But sure, I had set out to look for them…I had left home just to look for them “ “ And…and did you find them?” Zeta asked, as if she were joking.    No, I didn’t find them “ “ Oh, and then what happened? Don’t tell me you lived on the street!”

 “ I ended up to live with Great-Aunt Julie. She too had always found my parents unbearable, so she could well understand me “

After that talking, Zeta had continued asked for days if what that blessed woman, the teacher, had told her was true, or if ( it) was only a story to confuse her. Since , meanwhile , she had begun to think that teacher Cathy could really have something to do with the children’s disappearance.

But sure, the children were all three missing on their way home from kindergarten, it had been established.  Oh, but maybe they had disappeared upon leaving kindergarten or, even, before leaving.   And who could have made them disappear more easily? Someone who was there, in the kindergarten.  So, day by day , Zeta suspected more and more of the teacher Cathy. By now she felt it: she had been, that woman, who had delivered the children to those who had kidnapped them.  Zeta no longer dared to approach that woman, to talk with her. She frightened her. 

Then, months after the children had disappeared, the father of James, the first child who had disappeared, was arrested. The man was a pedophile, involved in child pornography business.  First he had handed over  his son to his pedophile cronies.  Then, since no one had suspected him in the least, he had also handed over the other two.  The first person who had suspected him had been the teacher Cathy, who had been struck by the drawings of little James , and even by his silences when he was asked about his father.