“It isn’t the large cues you have to watch, but the smaller ones. Yes, they were combative and running around, but they were also rubbing their eyes. They couldn’t talk to me without holding back a yawn. All of those are cues that they are overtired.”
“When you said ‘overtired’, what do you mean?”
“That they’ve blown past the point of being tired and have gotten into a state of being angry because they can’t do anything about being tired.”
“So you laid them down,” he said.
“I did. Only for an hour
. I woke them up and they weren’t happy about it, but I placed some milk in front of them for them to have once they woke up. They drank it and felt much better, then I told them to dive into their homework whenever they were ready.”
“Did the fight you on it?”
“A little,” I said. “Joshua wanted to watch cartoons so I told him he could watch a cartoon, then he had to read. Nathaniel did he times tables while the television was going, so when the cartoon was done I muted the television instead of turning it off.”
“I’ve been told that distracts kids. Did it not distract them?” he asked.
“Not really. Joshua was a little distracted, but Nathaniel worked right through it. I’m going to keep an eye on that, but for kids born into this technological age where everything is beeping and flashing and making some sort of noise, it’s becoming more common for them to need that constant stimulation to stay focused.”
“Whatever works,” he said with a sigh. “They just seem like three totally different kids.”
“They’re the same kids, but they’re understood now. That’s the difference,” I said.
“Well, I’m glad they haven’t chased you off yet.”
“They’re good kids, Mr. Marshall-”
“Carter,” he said. “You can call me Carter.”
“They’re good kids, Carter. There’s no such thing as a ‘bad kid’. Only a misled and misunderstood one.”
“Sounds like a good philosophy to have,” he said. “Did you do a lot of work with kids in Africa?”
“That was my sole purpose. When I was attached to Doctors Without Borders, they sent our crew into an area that needed serious pediatric help. My goal was to detect and help develop plans for the children in Bria with developmental delays.”
“Bria. Why does that sound familiar?” he asked.
“It’s a place in the Central African Republic that’s been ravaged by war. They’ve been in the news a few times over the past several months,” I said.
“Did you witness any of that kind of thing? Or did that happen in a part of Bria you weren’t in?”
I brought my wine glass to my lips and cast my eyes out the window. The expanse of the backyard was beautiful, but seeing it blanketed by the peaceful nighttime gave me a sense of peace. There was no gunfire off in the distance and there were no cries of mothers who had lost their children. I mindlessly sipped my wine, trying to figure out how I was going to answer his question.
But I really didn’t want to.
Just like he didn’t want to talk about his wife, I didn’t want to talk about my time in Africa.
At least, not that part of it.
“It’s in the past,” I said curtly.
I watched Carter nod as he took a sip of his wine.
“You got your undergraduate in Early Childhood Education.”
“I did,” I said.
“Have you ever thought about pursuing a higher level of education with it?” he asked.