The Invisible HM

Nobody knows I exist. At work. Nobody ever checks to see what
I am doing. I could be teaching monkeys to juggle, seeing how many
clowns I can fit into my car, putting the DoNots on a high wire to
see which ones have the aptitude for that kind of act, or sampling
exotic recipes for cotton candy. Nobody would know. Nobody
important.

When I arrive at school, I go straight to my room to get things ready
for the day. Then I get tied up with grading ISS work, or preparing
work for after-school mandatory tutoring, or filling out assignments
for fresh ISS. I run my copies, after filling the empty copier with
paper. Then it is time for class. I am always busy during class. I
have no idea how some people can check email during class. We
are supposed to in one building, because all announcements are
sent that way, but I rarely have time.

During lunch, I deposit my kids at the door to the cafeteria, then
catch up on entering grades in the computer. Actual grades, as
well as those I have to go back and put in, like from absences,
or ISS, or the afterschool thingy. Sometimes, I can actually type
up something for the next day so I don't have to do it at home.
Some days, I can actually plan during my planning period, but
mostly I do that stuff in the hour I stay after school.

I'm not hinting for you all to play the world's smallest violin for me.
It's part of my job, and I try to take advantage of every spare minute
I have. I can't be traipsing through the building, chatting with others.
I'm pointing out that I never see a principal in either building. Maybe
in the hall, while I am standing there between classes, but that's
about it. I suppose that's a good thing. Nobody is checking on me
to see if I'm doing what I'm supposed to. Which surely means I am
assumed to be doing my job correctly. It just seems odd, now that
I'm isolated in Lower Basementia. When I was upstairs, I heard the
principal walk by frequently.

I'll be whining out the other side of my mouth when I get a 'surprise'
observation.

For our writing prompt today, I asked the students to design a
Halloween haunted house. The oddest entry concerned 'skeletons
leaning over a fire, tanning their own skins'. The 'glass floor with
water under it, and corpses floating by' was also original. One
student thought of 'Hillbilly Mom in a giant birdcage, suspended
over a lake of boiling oil'. Methinks he did not relish the assignment.
Another designed her haunted house specifically for little kids, with
'SpongeBob SquarePants missing an eye, with blood pouring out
of the hole' and 'Scooby Doo being hung from a tree limb'. Also,
she would 'hand out broccoli-flavored candy at the end, and make
them eat it'. Kids these days!

Whatever happened to a good ol' lunatic escaped from the asylum,
jumping out from behind a bush?

Perhaps it's good that nobody is checking on me.