Gemotions

The photograph, innocently displayed on the kitchen counter, seemed to mock her. Her son, smiling, holding a picture of his new teacher: Mr. Thompson. The same Mr. Thompson who’d given her a reputation for being argumentative. The same man who’d made her life, at least at school, a living hell.

She felt a phantom ache in her side, where he’d criticized her posture. She imagined her son going through the same thing. The thought of him in Mr. Thompson's classroom was like a physical blow. She had a sudden, insistent need to protect him, to somehow make him untouchable.

She started writing an email to the school, a request for a classroom change she knew was unreasonable.