#dramatic fiction

Word Count: 98

Genre: Drama

Required Action: Petting a cat.

Required Word: Lush

Warnings/Disclaimers: None

A/N: With Iron making it through Round 1 of the 100 Word Challenge, Round 2 was next. Here’s what I wrote. Results will be at the end of July. :D

The wine glass shattered on impact, the walls and carpet gulping its ruby contents.

“How could you?!” the wife pointed her shriek at her husband.

She rounded on me to mirror the same words as the rest: Home wrecker. My focus was on the cat, her cat, snuggling into my side, its fur delightfully soft under my palm. 

“Probably softer than her hair,” I mused silently.

The details… Author: E. J. NoyesPublisher: Bella BooksPublication Date: May 12, 2022ISBN: 9781642473919eAvailable formats: ebook, paperback Length: 286 pageGenre: romance Themes: military hospitals, doctors, friendships, family, trauma The blurb from the publisher… Rebecca Keane has it all figured out. With a successful career as an Army surgeon and a fresh promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, she…

The blurb from the publisher… Do any of us ever fully accept the reflection in the mirror? Thirty-four-year-old Olivia Campbell has spent her entire life only glancing at the image that stares back. For over fifteen years, she’s kept a secret that has the potential to destroy all that she’s built. Now at a crossroads, Olivia must decide whether it’s important to be true to who she is or…

We all sat through the drills. I wasn't the best. I wasn’t the worst, but no matter my test scores in the other subject areas this one physical test had to be passed before I could begin working. I watched the videos and read all the pamphlets and pdfs. Very few of us did well with what the examiners called the “stress test.” 

Let me give you some background. Up until the legislation was passed about 5 years ago, you didn’t have to have physical exams to work in public education. That all changed when OFD (our favorite dictator, hey don’t report me it’s funny) and his cronies passed a piece of divisive legislation that lead to riots.. In the BoE until they gave the final line: either do it, or be replaced by someone who will. Even if that person wasn’t as technically qualified since we were nationally short on members to begin with--there were new “earn your degree while gaining real experience” programs that popped up for in need locations. Which apparently was a synonym for nearly every school after the first 18 months.

So here’s where we’re left, after people have settled into the idea of it: teachers not only have to pass their degree requirements (which are rather appallingly low since no one really wants to do public education for some strange reason): 1.5 years of core classes in your chosen subject, 6 months teaching with a mentor (senior teacher who basically is too harried with their responsibilities to help you), and two hours of a gun safety course with a practical exam.

Let me repeat:  

3 semesters of basic courses in the subject of your choice

6 months of “co” teaching

2 hours of gun safety

At least our country is great again, right? Oh and ignoring the gross lack of educational merit to this curriculum, if you don’t pass the gun portion you’re out... until the next class which is 3 weeks later.

In fact, if you’re willing to only work part time, you can get a provisional license in a specialized subject (let me break that down: if you can’t suck up the oh so difficult college curriculum) through what equates to summer school. 3 months “intensive” study.

Now I know you’re saying “but these teachers are passionate and learning hands on.” No. No. No.

The people who were passionate about teaching are the ones who lobbied and marched to try and prevent the most important factor of educating 5 year olds from being how accurate you are with a damned glock.

The teachers who cared advocated better mental healthcare for students and more research being done to adapt the national standards that put students under so much stress and leave them with education that teaches them to bow their heads down and suck it up until they explode. Let me say it. Quietly. As I put on a safety vest and aim at a target that’s ⅔ my size. While I straighten my posture and realize that the target is roughly the size of my 13 year old niece. Let me tell you as I silently put the gun down, take off the vest, and walk out.

No.

Nothing has changed in the last few years. Except we perform worse internationally. Our students are not prepared for the real world. Unemployment has gone up 8% in the last 6 years and is expected to increase before the final two years are finished under this current government model. Unless the new legislation is passed which alters the very foundations of our democracy.

Making America Great may just become a lifetime achievement. They said the armed teachers act wouldn’t pass either. Maybe the solution isn’t in adding or subtracting but coming up with a new equation all together, and I guess that’s what “they” are doing anyway. Except there’s nothing new about it if you’d been reading the signs like some dystopian fiction where society gets caught in a noose of its own permission. You might think it laughable that I think the only way to handle this is by escape but then most people aren’t reading the “Independent” (fake is what most people call it now) reports about the new travel bans. They’re inward not outward and my happy ass is getting out while the getting is still there. Because if it passes then no one’s going anywhere. And it’s all for you own good you see? They know better than you, or me when the poor are up in arms and diseases are coming in forms that we once knew but thought we knew better. It’s worse than a low budget movie and out of the lion’s mouth: we’ll protect you, from yourself but not Us.

So, as they yell and shout at me for walking out of the exam and threaten to suspend my teaching license. I remind myself that I already had a job offer for a place over the pond. I have about 18 hours before I’m probably on some list as a dissenter. So, I’m publishing this from the tarmac, rather than the house. Because apparently, a differing opinion is a radical act.

Last week I did something I hadn’t done in a couple of years. I read the first book I published, Casting Stones. I have to say it surprised me. I have some things I might write a little differently if I were to write it now, but really, not much. The book held my attention even though I knew what was coming and I even reached around to pat myself on the back a few times for the turns of phrase,…