A deep voice bellowed from the foyer, “Jake, put the paper down, let’s get going, or you’ll be late!” Seth shouted from their home’s threshold while he jingled the car keys like a dinner bell.
“Dad, what do you think about this?” Jake queried, waving the paper and ignoring the urgency in his father’s voice.
“I think we’ll be late if you don’t get up”, his dad huffed.
If there was a ‘most tardy days’ award, it would go to Jake. No matter how hard his dad tried, Jake was always late to school. One contributing issue was the fact that Seth’s job was inflexible and his boss was a cantankerous lout who seemed to fantasize about the day he could send Seth to ‘the pile of people I’ve fired’. He searched for any tiny infraction that might make that dream come true. Seth didn’t need to be clairvoyant to understand his dilemma, so, every morning he drove to work before taking Jake to school, it was a preemptive measure. A gesture to show his commitment, and so far it was working. Seth would willingly continue to sacrifice Jake’s reputation for promptness, if that helped him keep his job.
The second contributing factor for Jake’s tardiness was his inability to ride the bus. While Jake was perfectly capable of riding the bus, he seemed to be incapable of riding the bus and staying out of trouble. The disciplinary actions required Seth to miss even more work, so the bus was more costly on two fronts, Jake missed more school, and Seth further risked losing his job, the bus wasn’t an option.
“Nice of you to join us Jake”, the teacher quipped without looking up from the attendance sheet. Seconds before Jake entered the room his teacher had been staring at his watch; lately, he’d started playing a game of, ‘when will Jake arrive’. Today, he was right, down to the second. If it wasn’t for Jake's intelligence the teacher’s patience would have been exhausted after the first month of school. The way Jake’s mind worked was both a relief and an enjoyment to the teacher. Most students couldn’t be bothered to strain their brains with the exercise of thought. Secretly the teacher feared a plague of dumbness was sweeping the schools. Jake was different though, he seemed to enjoy rigorous contemplation, so, from the teacher’s perspective, it was better he showed up late than not at all. Jake was a torch in an empty night sky and the thought of that flame being extinguished by Jake or by any one else made the teacher shudder. Somehow he knew the world needed Jake. The class was strangely quiet, the silence snapped the teacher to attention, he’d been lost in thought for so long the students were starting to wonder if he needed assistance. Straightening his posture he said, “now that Jake has decided to join us, everyone pack up your desk and head downstairs, the observatory isn’t exactly close, so we need to get a move on.”