Emilio

(VIII)Probation ft. Emilio

"SHUT THE F**K UP YOU SICK F**K", I yelled at the toddler that was busy crying a river in front of me.

The entire daycare fell silent.

Before it was complete chaos. Toddlers were preoccupied fighting with each other, coloring on the walls, yelling and playing food fights. It was a disaster.

It was Emilio's and I first day doing community service. We came here with high hopes thinking we were pros. We were in for a shocker.

When the parents started filing in with their young ones, they looked like little angels with crowns of gold, but when the parents left it all started falling apart.

The girl that was supposed to train us hopped in a car with a 'friend', saying she would soon return, but now she was nowhere to be found.

For a while there was total silence. I think the kids and Emilio were a bit surprised at what I had just said. I'll have to admit, even I was surprised. This was so unlike me. I was good with children but these things weren't children, they were animals.

I wonder how their parents managed them. That was probably the reason they sent them here- to make them someone else's problem for a few hours.

The toddler that was standing in front of me burst back into tears even louder than before. And it all started again.

The tiny children raved on and on totally disregarding me and Emilio shouting for them to settle down.

I glanced over at Emilio and saw that he was curled up in a corner with his airpods in. He was completely oblivious to what was going on around him. I think they had pushed him over the edge. He had zero f**cks left to give.

I walked over to him and yanked the airpods right out of his ears while the children continued to work up a storm.

"EMILIO WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING TOGETHER. I CAN'T CONTROL THEM BY MYSELF." I shouted at Emilio while he scrunched up his face at me. "YOU WERE THE ONE THAT GOT US INTO THIS MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

Emilio looked me straight in the eye and said,"That's not my problem, I tried, I'm sure you are capable of taking care of them by yourself now."

I stared at him flabbergasted, " Are you serious? This is all your fault. I should have never agreed to anything with you. I knew you were gonna do something like this.

My shouting subsided to soft whispers. I felt something growing in my throat. You know that feeling you get when you're about to cry? Yes. That same one. That was what I was feeling right now.

Nothing was going right. I couldn't get the kids to settle down and now Emilio was letting me try and do this all bymyself. I mean I understood thay he was exhausted but that didn't give him a reason to leave me hanging.

I leaned against the wall and sank to the floor, overcome by a feeling of defeat. Both Emilio and I looked awful. You could see the fatigue in our eyes and our clothes were covered in paint and food particles.

We both sat for about 5 minutes just taking in everything that was happening.

"I have a plan," whispered Emilio from beside me.

"I don't want to hear it. Your plans always get us into trouble." I replied.

"That was only one time and I really think this plan could work. It would make this much easier for the both of us."

"Okay. Shoot."

"I'll take the kids out to play while you clean up the mess and you'll call them in one-by-one and put them to sleep."

"Well...that doesn't sound like a bad idea but how to you plan to get them to not tear down the playground too?"

"Don't worry Lexi."

Don't worry Lexi. The last time Emilio said that, we ended up here trying to take care of 15 unruly children that seemed to have no home training whatsoever.

"Okay Emilio. Do what you have to."

Emilio walked over to the children and grabbed them up one by one and took them to the backyard where the play area was. Soon the children were busy skating and riding the swings.

I took that opportunity to clean up the food that was split and take up the thousand pieces of paper on the ground. I also tried to clean the crayon markings off the wall to no avail.

After a while the room looked much better than it had looked forty five minutes ago and I decided to rest for a little bit to clear my mind. Ahhh. Peace at last.

"ARRRGHHH"

The sound of a scream cut through the silence I was enjoying just a moment before. I shot up from the chair and made my way to the window. To my horror, I saw one of the children left in our care hanging from a tree branch by just his shorts.

I hurriedly made my way around the back praying that it was nothing serious.

Emilo had a look of panic on his face and the rest of the children were screaming their lungs out.

"What did you do now Emilio? This was such a simple task. Are you trying to get us life in prison?" While cursing at Emilio, I ran over trying to get the child before he fell.

Right before I managed to reach the child, he fell with a thud. He let out a blood curdling scream and held his arm while wincing in pain.

I knelt over him unsure of what to do.

Neighbors had started to gather and I was starting to feel embarrassed. All Emilio did was stand and stare at me like I was a culprit.

"Quick call the ambulance."
"These kids are so irresponsible. How could they allow this to happen?"
"Where is Becky? Did they replace her with these untrained fools?"

There was a lot going on. Some of the neighbours had rushed over to the boy's aid. I backed away willing myself not to cry. I couldn't look like a baby in front so many people, especially Emilio.

I stood with my face void of emotion. Everything around me became a blur. The only thing I could hear was the distant wailing of sirens and red and blue lights coming closer.

The ambulance left just as fast as it had come. Me amd Emilio were still frozen in our spots.

"Mrs. Alexia and Mr. Emilio, please follow me." Said the same police officer we talked to at the station, gesturing for us to follow him.
"You will be fined for neglect and endangerment of minors and in addition, you will both be put on house arrest for a while. I am very disappointed with you two."

Neither Emilio nor myself uttered a word. We knew nothing we said would change this man's mind.

I guess we would be stuck in the house now. Nothing could go wrong there.

Right?