''Mom, can I speak to them in ancient Greek tomorrow?''
She sighed but unconsciously smiled at the word ''Greek'' that her son had just said.
''You should wait to know each other better before showing them how wonderful you are at it, or they will be jealous.''
At that moment, she was thinking about everything apart from his son starting grade school tomorrow.
She was thinking about incredible adventures, bone-chilling fights, friends, and love.
For this reason, it wasn't a surprise...
''...om, Mom, can you hear me?
Are you alright?! ''
His son Erechteus was watching her with worried eyes, grabbing her t-shirt from the front and his eyes wet.
''I'm sorry, Erechteus, how long was I away? ''
He dried his face with his sleeve while steadying his expression.
''Ten minutes, Mom. ''
Unluckily, this wasn't the first time her mind wandered away when talking about anything related to Greek culture.
In the beginning, Eric thought it would be cool to share the same interest of his mother, and wanted to read on his own the so-exceptional stories she talked about.
Though as time passed, every time he talked about it and the ''G word'' was included in his sentence, her eyes first focused on his face, and then her mind started wandering for an undetermined time.
It was something he had mixed feelings about.
On one side, this was the only topic of discussion that made her mother gain a slight grin. On the other side, he was jealous because that small hint of happiness wasn't even caused by him.
It was all caused by her unrestrained thoughts.
At this point in time, he had started hating his past choice, and rarely used the ''G word'', only to make sure his mother was able to smile still and didn't have any disease.
Still, it was true that he was excited about his first day of Grade School.
He didn't attend Pre-school as he enjoyed going to work with his mother, to spend more time together.
She probably didn't know it, but everything started when he heard her cry one night when he woke up because of a nightmare.
''Why did you leave me?... ''
Her words were interrupted by the sound of crying.
''How long will I have to wait for you? ''
That was the first time he heard his mother cry.
Usually, she seemed, always so serious and perfect. He was so shocked by what heard, that he didn't manage to sleep that night.
The next day he proposed to Olive to learn Greek and come along to her job.
All of this was definitely unexpected for her. But for the first time in his life, he saw his mother smile.
He felt like he had done the right choice.
The learning process was very enjoyable for him. He felt like a spy, trying to decipher a cryptic code to understand the secret message written on paper.
After 3 months of deliberate daily practice, he learned the Greek language with slang and a way of saying things in a native's style.
Learning things so fast seemed strange to him too, but enjoying the process so much, he didn't really care about marginal things as his learning speed.
He just wanted to enter the same world her mother lived in during her mental envisioning.
Finally, the countdown arrived at zero.
It was 8 A.M., the sky was clear, the Sun didn't hit as hard, and the wind was enjoyable.
The weather seemed perfect for a happy, new beginning.
The H.I. elementary school seemed so perfect it seemed unrealistic.
The main building was in red bricks and white details.
In front of it, the green, millimetrically cut grass matched the paved path up to the stairs of its entrance.
On the right side of the green, grassy expanse, a metal pole kept the U.S.A. flag waving slowly in the wind.
First impressions sometimes are given way too much importance. In this case, luckily, it didn't give him a negative first impression.
Excited about his future days in school, he ran ahead of Olive and turned around just when in front of the door while smiling.
It strangely seemed to her as a king had just subjugated a territory and wanted to show off to her.
Having that thought and comparing it to the behavior of his father made her laugh imperceptibly.
If Eric had caught on to that, he would have thought the day after, the Sun would have risen from the West.
After the introduction speech, the Headmaster gave to the parents and kids in the school gymnasium, Olive waved her hand to Eric.
''I'll come to pick you up around 2 P.M., alright? ''
''Sure, have a great day at work, Mom! ''
Seeing him smile and wave his little hand at her, she thought again about him, but after sighing mentally, she nodded to her son before turning around and leaving.
Eric was focused on the speech before, but now he started to feel the eyes of the surrounding people on him and his mother.
As if asking what was the reason why, he raised his sight with a speed slightly higher than usual.
His eyes were inquisitive, and due to the voluntarily fast, sudden action, he caught the red-handed creepers.
The majority of the adults, were either ogling Olive or worrying about him because he was left alone. In fact, the bulk of them would walk with their kids up to the door of their respective classrooms.
The kids, on the other hand, thought he was strange for being alone, and when they crossed their eyes with Eric's, instinctively developed an interest in the dirt on their shoes or in checking for any possible mold spot on the gym's ceiling.
Still, there were no problems with their shoes or the hall's ceiling. They were just overcome by the presence in Eric's eyes.
Arrived without any particular struggle in his assigned classroom. He didn't know that, in around four hours, he would disregard his mother's advice.
Unexpected to himself too, he would use his extensive and refined knowledge of the Greek language, to basically call his schoolmate a pile of bullshit and insult his teacher.