After Kindly Driving My Student to School, I Was Forced to Abort

One rainy day I gave a student a ride to school out of kindness, and just like that, his mother started treating me as her personal chauffeur.

Every day she waited at the front gate of her complex, expecting me to ferry her son to and from school.

It wasn't exactly convenient, but the route lined up, so I let it slide.

Then one day I took time off for a prenatal checkup and didn't come down on schedule. Howie's mother called the second I was late.

"Ms. Whitney, my Howie's about to be late for school, and here you are sleeping in!"

That was when I remembered I'd forgotten to tell her. I quickly explained that I had a checkup today and they shouldn't wait for me.

Howie's mother cut me off.

"No way. My son's used to being picked up now, so you get back here right now!"

"I don't know how a teacher of all people got so desperate, but now you've gone and gotten yourself pregnant, and it's holding up my son's schooling!"

"You're not even showing yet and already this much trouble. God knows how much of a hassle you'll be once the baby's here!"

"This won't do. Drop my son off today, then go get rid of that baby, or I'll file a complaint with the school!"

I actually laughed, out of sheer anger. I never thought I'd meet a parent this unreasonable.

Too bad she'd picked the wrong person. If there's one thing I'm not afraid of, it's a complaint.

...

"Ms. Whitney, are you listening to me?"

She was still ranting on the other end.

I pushed down the anger rising in my chest and answered coldly.

"Ma'am, giving your son a lift because it's on my way was a courtesy, not my obligation."

"I never charged you a cent for it, so don't treat me like your personal driver."

"And whether or not I keep my baby is none of your business."

With that, I hung up.

My husband, Cedric Simmons, had gone to wait in line and pay the fee, and he came walking back just then with a cup of water.

Seeing how bad I looked, he quickly handed me the warm water.

"What's wrong, honey? Who got you this worked up?"

I took the cup, drank a sip, and repeated everything Howie's mother had said on the phone.

Cedric was furious.

"Is she sick in the head? She really thinks you're free labor?"

"You did her a kindness giving her son a ride, and now she's latched right onto you!"

"Honey, no more rides, and I mean it. What kind of freak parent is that?"

I nodded, my own irritation simmering.

All this time driving Howie back and forth, the aggravating things his mother had pulled were beyond counting.

The most outrageous one was last month.

I had an unexpected meeting after work, so I texted her to come pick up her son herself.

Instead she left Howie sitting by my car, waiting forty minutes, while she went off to get her nails done.

My head was buzzing with rage. I called Howie's mother right then and there.

I demanded to know why she'd left the boy alone in the parking lot.

She answered like it was nothing.

"Come on, Ms. Whitney, you're heading home after your meeting anyway. What's the harm in letting him wait a bit?"

"My nail tech is really in demand. If I skipped this appointment I'd have to wait ages for another."

Looking at Howie shivering in the cold, I forced the harsh words back down.

I just took the boy home.

Looking back now, I'd been far too easy on her. Give her an inch and she'd taken a mile.

"Rosalind Whitney, you're up. Room three."

The nurse calling my number pulled me out of my thoughts.

Cedric quickly helped me to my feet, and we walked carefully into the exam room.

After a full round of tests, the doctor looked at the ultrasound results, his tone grave.

"This pregnancy isn't looking very stable."

"The first three months are the most dangerous. Is your job pretty stressful? Big mood swings?"

I nodded again and again.

Being a homeroom teacher, how could I not worry, how could I not get angry.

"Go home and get plenty of bed rest. The most important thing is to keep your spirits up."

"Whatever you do, don't get upset again, or you could lose this baby."

The doctor prescribed a few boxes of medication to support the pregnancy, with warning after warning.

Cedric had gone pale listening beside me, promising the doctor over and over that he'd take good care of me.

Once we left the hospital, Cedric drove me straight home and had me lie down to rest.

Then he went off to the kitchen to make me chicken soup.

I hadn't been lying down long when my phone buzzed.

The caller ID showed Gordon Lawrence, the grade-level director.

I hit answer.

"Rosalind Whitney, come in to work tomorrow morning, but don't go to your classroom first. Come straight to my office."

Gordon's tone was sharp, thick with that official bluster.

"Director Lawrence, is something the matter?" I asked.

"The matter? You don't know what you've done?"

"A parent went and filed a complaint with me!"

"You get here early tomorrow and explain yourself, all of it!"

And then he hung up.

Cedric came in carrying the chicken soup, his face full of worry.

"Honey, why don't you just take the day off tomorrow? The doctor told you to stay in bed."

"Or... I could call your dad, have him drop by your school tomorrow?"

I laughed out loud.

"It's nothing. Why would we bother him with it?"

"Besides, Dad's always so busy with work. A little squabble like this isn't worth troubling him over."

"Don't worry. I can handle it myself."

But Cedric still wasn't reassured. The next morning he insisted on driving me to school himself.

On the way, my phone kept ringing.

All of them from Howie's mother.

I ignored it and just had Cedric take the other route out of the complex.

Once we got to school, I went straight to Gordon's office.

I'd barely reached the door when Howie's mother's shrill voice carried out from inside.

"Director Lawrence, is this how your school trains its teachers?"

"Not an ounce of responsibility!"

I pushed the door open and walked right in.

The second she saw me come in, Howie's mother jabbed a finger at my face and started cursing.

"Rosalind Whitney, you've actually got the nerve to show up for work!"

"Hiding and ducking my calls, what kind of woman does that?"

I ignored her and walked straight over to face Gordon.

"Director Lawrence, you wanted to see me."

Gordon's face was stiff. He rapped his knuckles hard against the desk.

"Ms. Whitney, what is going on with you?"

"This parent came to the school to file a complaint yesterday. She says you don't care whether your students live or die, just because you're pregnant!"

That made me laugh in disbelief.

"Director Lawrence, Howie's mother wants me to drive her son to and from school every single day."

"But I'm a teacher, not a nanny, and certainly not her personal chauffeur. I'm under no obligation to do that."

The moment she heard it, Howie's mother shrieked.

"Don't you dare shirk your responsibility!"

"If you hadn't skipped picking up my son yesterday morning, would he have fallen rushing to get to school?"

She yanked up Howie's pant leg, exposing a scrape on his knee about the size of a fingernail.

"Ms. Whitney, let me tell you, my son is going to test into a top middle school."

"Now his leg's hurt. If it ruins his future, can you afford to pay for that?"

"You are going to get rid of that baby, and from now on you're picking my son up and dropping him off on time every day!"

"And you'll cover my son's medical bills and emotional damages too. Sixty thousand dollars, all in!"

Howie, who had been keeping his head down the whole time, suddenly tugged at his mother's sleeve.

"Mom, I fell because I wasn't watching where I was walking. It's not Ms. Whitney's fault..."

"You shut up!"

Howie's mother smacked him on the back of the head.

"Kids don't butt into grown-up business!"

"What have I always taught you? You little traitor, taking their side!"

Howie's eyes went red in an instant. He clutched his head and didn't dare make a sound.

I couldn't watch it anymore.

"If you've got a grievance, take it out on me, not on your child."

"I'll say it again. Driving him is a favor, not driving him is my right."

"This sixty thousand, I won't pay a cent of it, and there's no way I'm getting an abortion."

"If you feel so wronged, go out the door, turn left, and take me to court."

Seeing this, Gordon's face darkened.

"Rosalind Whitney, is that any way to talk to a parent?"

"When a parent puts their child in our hands, we take full responsibility!"

"This parent has made a reasonable request, so you do everything you can to meet it!"

"And on top of that, the school never approved your pregnancy!"

"This behavior of yours has done serious damage to the school's image!"

"If this parent takes it all the way to the principal, you can forget about keeping your job as a teacher!"

"Listen to me. Go get the abortion, then pay Howie's mother the sixty thousand, and we'll let this quietly blow over."

I looked straight at Gordon Lawrence.

I never thought he'd force a teacher under him to get an abortion just to shut up a parent throwing a tantrum.

I didn't give an inch.

"Director Lawrence, the Board of Education has never made a rule that a teacher needs the school's approval to be pregnant."

"You think threatening to fire me is going to scare me? I don't scare that easily."

Contradicted to his face, Gordon shot to his feet, shaking with anger.

Right then the office door was pushed open from outside.

The principal walked in.

"I could hear the shouting in here from all the way down the hall. Is this any way to behave?"

Howie's mother threw herself straight at him.

"Principal! You have to set this right for me!"

"Your school's teacher is bullying people!"

She squeezed out two tears and launched into a tearful, wailing accusation against me.

She made me out to be a terrible teacher, one who slacked off because she was pregnant, mistreated her students, and had a vicious attitude on top of it all.

Gordon jumped in beside her.

"That's right, Principal. This Rosalind Whitney has always thought she could look down on everyone just because her class scores well."

"Now she won't even give a parent the time of day."

"I was just trying to do the decent thing, telling her to apologize to the parent and settle this privately, and she talked back to me!"

In the hallway outside the office, a crowd of teachers had gathered at some point to watch the show.

A few of them, jealous that I'd won the Outstanding Teacher award, started needling me from the doorway.

"Oh my, Ms. Whitney's always so high and mighty. Of course she can't take a little grievance."

"Right, she's a celebrated teacher. Ordinary ones like us wouldn't dare compare."

"If she's pregnant, she should just go home and have the baby. Why hang around school taking up a spot she won't fill?"

"Poor Howie, such a bright kid, stuck with a homeroom teacher like her."

I looked at these colleagues piling on while I was down and felt nothing at all, only that it was laughable.

After hearing out Howie's mother and Gordon, the principal's face went dark.

"Rosalind Whitney! You have no discipline, no respect for the chain of command!"

"Do you even know what day it is?"

"The Director of the Board of Education is about to make a surprise inspection of our school!"

"And you pick this exact moment to blow up into a huge fight with a parent!"

"Are you doing this on purpose, to embarrass me and go against the school?"

I looked at him coldly.

"Principal, Director Lawrence hasn't looked into what actually happened at all."

"This parent is the one making an unreasonable scene. She demanded I be her free driver, and when I said no, she used her child's fall to shake me down."

"My pregnancy is perfectly normal. I haven't broken a single rule. On what grounds should I get an abortion?"

"Since the Director of the Board is coming, that's perfect."

I looked the principal straight in the eye and said each word clearly.

"Let him come and settle it, and see whose fault this really is!"

The moment he heard that, the principal flew into a rage.

"Who do you think you are? You're not fit to go in front of the director!"

"He has a thousand things to handle. He doesn't have time for your petty mess!"

He turned and shouted toward the door.

"Security! Where's security? Get in here, now!"

Two uniformed guards pushed through the crowd and ran in.

"Principal, you called for us?"

The principal pointed at me and gave the order, half choking on his own fury.

"Rosalind Whitney, as of now you're suspended. Go home this instant and think long and hard about what you've done!"

"You two, throw her out of here!"

"Without my permission, she doesn't set one foot inside this school!"

At his word, the guards came at me from both sides.

But Howie's mother suddenly cried out.

"No! You can't just let her walk away like that!"

She shoved a guard aside and planted herself between me and the principal, hands on her hips.

"Principal, you're covering for her!"

"She bullies me and my son like this, and all you do is suspend her and tell her to reflect? Since when does anyone get off that easy?"

"Let me tell you, today she's going to bow and apologize to me and my son in front of every teacher in this school!"

"And then transfer me sixty thousand in compensation right away! Not a cent less!"

"Otherwise, I'll go block the gate and stop the Board director this instant!"

"I'll file a complaint straight to him and have him fire Rosalind Whitney on the spot!"

"And I'll show the director exactly how your school lets its teachers bully students!"

I gave a cold laugh.

"Fine, go complain."

"I'd love to see whether the director, once he's here, backs a parent running an extortion racket, or backs a teacher who's just doing her job."

Howie's mother hadn't expected me to hold this firm. She froze for a second.

But the principal came completely undone.

The Director's inspection was a serious matter. It decided whether he'd get his promotion next year.

If this blew up in front of the Director, his days as principal were over.

He wiped the cold sweat off his forehead and turned to glare at me, eyes full of venom.

"Rosalind Whitney! You won't rest until you've dragged this whole school down, will you!"

"Apologize to Howie's mother, now! Do exactly what she says!"

"Hurry up!"

I stood where I was and didn't move.

"I did nothing wrong. I will not apologize."

Seeing that nothing got through to me, the principal stamped his feet in a panic.

"Fine. You've got nerve!"

"Security! Hold her down! Make her bow to Howie's mother!"

The two guards heard the order and moved in at once, seizing my arms, one on each side.

They were strong. They shoved down hard on my shoulders.

I struggled with everything I had, but I was no match for two grown men.

The instant they forced me to bend, Howie's mother rushed forward.

Crack! Crack!

Two sharp slaps landed hard across my face.

My cheeks burned in an instant, and my ears rang.

"Worthless piece of trash! You had your chance to do this the easy way!"

Howie's mother shook out her stinging hand and jabbed a finger in my face, screaming.

"You teachers draw a salary from the state, so you should be serving us parents and our kids twenty-four hours a day!"

"Coming whenever we call is your job!"

"Letting you pick up my son was me doing you a favor, and you dare give me attitude!"

Pinned by the guards, humiliation and fury churned violently in my chest.

A sharp, stabbing pain shot through my lower belly.

Then came a heavy, dragging downward pull.

I felt something warm run down the inside of my thigh.

The guards saw the blood on my leg and let go in fright.

"My stomach it hurts so much"

I dropped to the floor, clutching my belly, and with a shaking hand fished the phone out of my pocket to call 911.

But Howie's mother snatched it away.

"Keep it up! Keep putting on the act!"

"Bouncing around fine a second ago, and now one little touch and you're playing dead on the floor?"

"Let me tell you, even if you die right here today, you're paying me first! Otherwise you're not walking out that door!"

The pain left me no strength to argue. All I could do was beg the people around me.

"Help me call 911 I'm bleeding"

I looked toward the teachers in the doorway who had come to watch.

But every one of them looked away, some even stepping back.

Seeing this, Howie's mother grew even bolder and shouted.

"I'd like to see who dares!"

"Anyone who calls that number for her today can pay her sixty thousand for her!"

The moment those words were out, the few teachers who had looked uneasy pulled their heads back in.

Just then, an authoritative voice came from the hallway outside the office.

"What's going on here? Why is there such a crowd?"

At the sound of it, the principal's whole body jerked.

He instantly put on a fawning smile and shoved through the crowd to rush out.

"Oh, Director! You're here early!"

"It's nothing, nothing, just a small dispute between a teacher and a parent."

"But don't worry, it's all been settled now."

"This way, please. Let's head to the auditorium first, they've got the welcome ceremony ready for you over there"

The principal was doing everything he could to steer him away.

I lay against the cold floor tiles, the searing pain in my abdomen sending waves of black across my vision.

Summoning the last shred of strength in my body, I shouted toward the door.

"Dad! Don't go, I'm here!"