Chapter 2

“Mommy! We can go now!” Tanya came hipperty-hopping out from the classroom with excitement and joy. If the child had shown up one millisecond later, she would have witnessed her mother punching her classmate’s father in the face, or maybe in the chest.

Words from Jenna were still lingering in Smirky man’s ears as he looked at the little girl in the pink dress. Then he lifted his menacing eyes to Jenna and fumed. “I’ve never seen your daughter until today!”

Tanya looked up at her mother whose eyes were piercing at the man who was standing next to her classmate. She had learned from past experience that it was best to ignore her mother during moments like this. So she lowered her gaze to her classmate and pointed to the Valentine card in his hand. “Timothy, is that for me? I haven’t got your card.”

The boy shook his head with pouty cheeks. “Yours is still in my bag.”

Upon hearing the boy’s answer, both Jenna and Smirky man lowered their gaze to the children in surprise.

“Why?” Tanya asked innocently. “You’re supposed to give them out! Mrs. Ingrid said…..”

“Tanya T said my card is ugly! She didn’t want it!” Timothy was almost close to tears again.

“Tanya T is a slut. She’s materialistic and money-minded! She is a gold-digger! There is nothing but dollar signs in her eyes and her nose is like this!” The little girl said matter-of-factly and made hand gestures for the money symbols and pressed her nose in the air to describe a ‘snob’.

Jenna was shocked beyond description for she had never heard her daughter speak in such language before. She felt ashamed for what she said to Smirky man about such language and thought she owed him an apology. But when Smirky man folded his arms across his chest and flashed a ‘real’ smirk at her, she changed her mind.

“Ah ha! So, it was YOUR daughter who taught my son to say those words!” Smirky man took pleasure in pointing that out, especially by emphasizing the possessive pronoun. “Sounds very much like the kind of language you just used on me!”

“I never said such things to my daughter!” Jenna was flabbergasted. If this was someone else’s daughter on Facebook or YouTube, she would have clicked the ‘Like’ button. But this was her own daughter.

Tanya and Timothy didn’t bother to pay any attention to what the adults were saying to each other but stood a few steps away from them. Tanya put her hand out. “I want my Valentine card, Timothy! You got mine yesterday, remember?”

Timothy nodded with a smile and was trying to reach behind for his backpack. Tanya reached out and gave him a hand. Then they stooped and lowered the bag onto the floor. Timothy pulled out a stack of hand-made Valentine cards. Tanya was admiring each card that was passed into her hands as Timothy shuffled them to find the one that was supposed to be for her. When she was presented with the card, she studied the picture in the middle of the heart and had a very pleasing look of satisfaction on her face. “I love it! Did you make this just for me?”

Timothy nodded and smiled brightly at his best friend. “Now it’s going to come true!”

Smirky man and Jenna stood motionless as they listened in on the conversation between their children. They realized what happened earlier was a total misunderstanding. When Jenna realized the card was for one of the other girls named Tanya, she wished she had named her daughter ‘Zenababimolina.’ If she had done that, none of this would have happened.

She noticed Smirky man was happy to see the smile on his son’s face. But when he lifted his eyes and met hers, they turned hostile again. He was using his telepathic power to communicate that he wanted an apology from her for calling him an idiot in front of his son.

Jenna was using her telepathic power to tell him this whole ordeal was entirely his fault. Though she was wrong to accuse him for teaching such language to his son, she felt this was his punishment for stealing her parking spot in the first place. She reasoned had he not done that, she would be the one to come in later. He and his son would have been gone from her sight by the time she entered the school. And none of these name callings would have occurred.

“Well, your daughter wouldn’t have gotten her Valentine card. I know my son made it especially for her!”

Jenna was surprised to hear his voice. ‘Wait a minute, Smirky man read my mind?’

“That’s true!” Jenna went on to admit in a quiet voice. ‘Why am I agreeing with him?’

“Her wish is going to come true now! My son takes his words very seriously.” Smirky man stated. “Like me, he doesn’t give empty promises!”

Smirky man wondered what Tanya’s valentine wish was. All he could see was a cut out picture of a male model from a magazine inside the heart that his son had drawn.

“Yeah, right!” Jenna scoffed as she took another quick glance at the card Tanya was admiring. She also wondered what wish her daughter made. Obviously, it wasn’t just for her mother to pick her up from school. If that were so, Timothy would have drawn a car and a woman inside the heart.

Jenna looked at Timothy who appeared to be so different from when she first saw him. She credited it to her daughter and told Smirky man. “Well, if you didn’t steal my parking spot, your son would be very unhappy tonight and may even be emotionally traumatized for the rest of his life when it comes to women issues.”

“I didn’t steal your parking spot!” His smirk was replaced by a glare. “He would have learned to get over women issues, just like his father did!”

Jenna was not afraid of his glare. She returned it with her stare. They both wished they had telepathic ability to read each other’s thoughts. But the truth was, even if they were gifted with such talents, they would have misused it right there and then. She would have sent him this message. ‘Apologize to you? Sure, when the cow jumps over the moon!’

He would have responded deviously. ‘Sure! All you have to do is jump over your husband’s moon!’

And that would have started World War III because he had just called her a ‘cow’. Ah, but they were saved by their children once again.

“Mommy! We’re going to give Timothy’s cards to Mrs. Ingrid!”

“Wait for me, Daddy!”