The Perfect Solution-A Suspense of Choices (13 page)

“After that little fiasco, it had been the episode with the little girl who was constantly swallowing the small rocks on the toddler playground. Her parents had complained constantly and so a soft colored padding was put down as a replacement. That new padding on the grounds had cost another fortune, but it ended the complaints and the word-of-mouth praise had caused a lot more toddlers and infants to be enrolled in The P. S. Center. The padding had turned into a major plus, until the next stupid problem occurred.

Last month a two-month old infant was forgotten on one of the vans for damned near two hours before a staff member noticed she hadn’t been brought in. Poor little thing had been strapped in her car seat and had suffered no ill effects from exposure. Thank God it hadn’t been summer time. Summer in Texas, without air conditioning was a killer. A week later, one of the teachers angrily yanked a toddler by the arm and fractured his shoulder. To keep The P. S. Center from being closed, the stupid teacher had to be fired. It's only by the grace of God the centers have not been closed before now."

Ever since that particular teacher was fired, new teachers were changed constantly and the toddler room was now in a state of major chaos. Toddlers required a lot of patience and understanding and she hadn't found anyone capable or willing to stick to the job. Bertha knew that it didn't look good to the parents, but so far she had been unable to find anyone that could stick with the job. Just that morning, in a tremendous case of desperation, she’d made the astounding mistake of calling and offering a substitute job to a novice in childcare, Stephanie Franklin.

Bertha rubbed her hand across her closed eyes, down her right cheek and covered her mouth with her open palm and shook her head in hopes of clearing her troubling thoughts. Nerves and fear kept her from getting the peace she desired and pushed her into reviewing the day's happenings.

After opening The P. S. Center for the day and turning on the monitors, Bertha had felt like the day would turn out to be a great one. She was extremely proud of The Center. Things were running very smooth. There hadn't been any complaints from parents in months and she had been having no problems with getting fees paid, especially, after hiring the office assistant, Mrs. Julioux.

That little woman was punctilious when it came to keeping up with the books. The main problem Bertha had with the center was the attendance of the staff. When the teacher who had been working with the toddlers for the past two weeks, called in at the last minute, it had really blown her mind. Especially after calling the list of possible substitutes and learning they had all been engaged in other pursuits. She’d felt trapped. And so she had made the gigantic mistake of hiring someone without checking the credentials.

"Mrs. Julioux, come into my office." Bertha yelled through the open door of her office.

"I'll be right there as soon as I finish writing this receipt for this parent."

"That's fine."

Bertha spun the chair of her desk around and stood to pace the room. She was at a lost as to what she would do. There were a lot of children in the toddler room and she knew that. She just didn't want to make the mistake of hiring someone that would report the fact. She knew what the child/staff ratio was supposed to be, but she had always disagreed. Toddlers didn't always come on a continuous basis so she had purposely over enrolled the class in order to keep a steady flow of funds running into the building. In order to have a spectacular center she had to start off spending spectacular money. The up to date computers and educational supplies did not come cheap. And neither did a top rate highly paid staff. The women may have a lot of intelligence, but they really lacked street sense. They always screwed up when it came to the simple things.

Halting her mad pace around the room, Bertha stood in front of the large picture window, and looked around The Center's parking lot. She smiled at the sight of one of The Center's three vans. Not because of the children that were being helped off by the driver and her aid, but because she loved seeing the name of the daycare centers inscribed on its side, The Perfect Solution & After the Perfect Solution Daycare Centers. These centers promised to be the thing that could set her up for life. If she could just manage to get through the rest of the year without a major problem, she planned on starting another center on the other end of town.

Bertha checked her watch and saw that it was nine o'clock. She literally loved the driver of this particular van because the driver was a stickler for time. The woman was the truly most dependable person on the job. She did three van runs in the mornings, seven through nine a. m. and never allowed herself more than ten minutes unloading and reporting whatever incidents or accidents may have happened in route to The P. S. Center and then she parked the van and left until her next run at two in the afternoon. If only the rest of the staff was as reliable.

Looking past the van, Bertha noticed the dark green car parked near the curb of the empty field across the street from the center. This would be the third morning that she had seen the car parked there. In the afternoon it would be sitting in that same spot from one to about three o'clock in the afternoon.

The driver of the car was unrecognizable. As a matter of fact, she couldn't tell whether the person was a male or female. The head was covered in a dark cap and the clothes were also dark. It made her kind of nervous to come in to The P. S. Center by herself at 6:00 in the mornings. That is one of the reasons she made it her business to turn on the monitors. She could look through the building and check for intruders without doing a walking tour. Looking at the car again she promised herself that she would have to report the matter to the police if the car was still there in an hour, she turned her attention to Mrs. Julioux.

"Perrie called to say that she wouldn't be able to come in today…"

"She called again? She called in twice last week," Mrs. Julioux interrupted. "She's probably trying to find another job."

"Yes again. You're probably right. I've called the three people from the sub list and they’re all busy. Do you know of anybody I can call to sub in here today?"

"Uhm, we have a few applications in the other room. A couple of the people seemed useable. Two of the applicants are too old to work with that class. As busy as those children are, you need someone that wouldn't mind doing a little running."

They both laughed at the subtle inside joke, the class was definitely a handful.

"Sounds like a winner to me. I don't care, who she is, as long as I get someone to work in there today. Who is in the class with them now?"

"Nobody the little animals are in the television room. And I have Mrs. Campbell peeking in on them as she cooks lunch. Is there something you need me to do?"

"Yeah, I think you should take them to their class. Most of them are too young to sit and watch the television and they’re probably running around like the little animals you call them."

"I'm sure."

"You keep an eye on them while I make that call. Let them play and keep them out of trouble. After I get a sub, I'll come and help out."

"Ew." She shivered expressively. "Don't take too long. There are a couple of little smart butts in there that make me want to pretend I am their mother and tap their tiny bottoms." She laughed and walked out of the room.

Bertha berated herself loudly and scornfully as she came back to the present. "And then I turn around and call the substitute from beyond." Yanking on her coat, she pulled open her door. "This will be the damned end of The Perfect Solution Center, now." She predicted aloud. "How in the world could a child be given to a total stranger? This is totally incomprehensible. When that little woman that did the sub work told me that she thought there would be a problem with Brhin Teddi, I shouldn’t have told the clown not to worry about it, especially when I was worried about it myself. I should have followed my first mind and called his mother.

And then when Mrs. Wing brought her class in from the playground and told me she saw Brhin crying in the back of someone's car, I should have paid attention, but no I was too worried about The Center's reputation.”

Bertha, feeling tense and aggravated climbed into her car and backed out of the driveway, all the while loudly lamenting her actions from throughout the day. She had messed up, royally. “Before I could call the mother I discussed the problem with Mrs. Julioux and was assured a friend of the mother had come and gotten the child. His aunt had already been to the center and gone and I stupidly took it for granted that there had been a mix up in communication between the family members and dismissed the problem. I really should have followed my intuition and called his mother. I just can't perceive how ten grown women could do such a thing. I'm going to give the lot of them two weeks’ notice and then terminate every one of them. I'll start over with a better staff."

. As she drove the short distance to the center, she admonished herself for her lassitude in dealing with the many problems that had cropped up during her five years of ownership. She had only decided on starting a childcare center on a whim and a wish to make fast cash. There had never been a day in her life when she had to personally worry about the care of a child. To tell the honest truth, she didn't even like children. The thought behind buying a center had been 'easy money'. Hire your staff, put them to work and sit back and collect money. So, she had checked all of her potential competitions and taken note on everything that had made their center desirable, she made The Perfect Solution, and the After the Perfect Solution centers surpass them all. As soon as the building was built, Bertha had every room and practically every wall space painted with child-oriented murals. And the number one rule of The P. S. Center was 'no hands on the walls'. The reception area was to die for. The computers, educational and play equipment was supplied in abundance. She paid good money for Center's playground had beautiful landscaping. Large shade trees encircled by curved cemented paths for the small tricycles, wagons, and pedal cars that traveled around the padded play area. She'd had the largest jungle gym tree house built and put in two swing sets that held eight swings each. The separate outdoor play area for infants to 18 months old children was padded, had an overhead covering and was well equipped.

The After the Perfect Solution Center's play area was fenced to keep the younger children in their own area and was also perfectly designed. It boasted of a miniature basketball and tennis court, swing sets and enough room to play baseball or kickball. The entire area was beautiful. Combined, the centers practically took up an entire block.

It hadn't taken long for the realization that running the centers would not be easy to sink in. The first few months had really been tough. What she had not known when it came to dealing with the care of the children she had let herself depend heavily on the knowledge of the staff? That had almost been her downfall, then. After a few minor mishaps, things had gotten successively better.

"And now things were heading down hill again." She muttered aloud. She swung into her allotted slot and turned off the car's motor. "But I will be damned if I go down without a fight."

Getting out and slamming the car's door, she marched to the doubled glass entrance of The P. S. Center, turned off the alarm system and entered the building. Relocking the door, she roamed the hallway flicking on the lights as she walked through each room.

"I kinda hate to give up the place. I remember the first day we opened. Damn, I remember the day of the grand opening, ninety-eight children, from the age of infant to 12 years old had been officially enrolled at The Perfect Solution Day Care Center. It was a great event. The media, both television and press were on sight for the occasion. Of course they had been The Perfect Solution Centers had been advertised as the best and most accommodating facility to be built in the city, promising a lot in name and abilities. The main part of The Perfect Solution Center opened at 6 a.m. and closed at 6:30 p.m., drop-ins were welcome. On the property, in a separate building that was lovingly called After the Perfect Solution, after-school and night care for all ages was provided.

As an extra incentive, parents could pay to have their children take part in ballet classes, piano lessons, gymnastics, or karate. The after school center remained open all night. By providing these services in a separate building, monies were saved on the utilities. It was closed at 6 a.m. until 3:00 in the afternoon and run with a separate set of staff. Operating the center this way meant that the younger children's space and property in the main center were not bothered or destroyed by the more robust activities of the older children. The centers boasted to be able to supply the perfect solution for whatever kind of childcare situation that could arise for a parent.

On the day of the grand opening, the sun shone brightly without a rain cloud in sight. Large colored balloons and flags decorated the building and surrounding fence. The parking lot had over flowed with potential customers and curiosity seekers. Part of the grand opening attractions was the barbecue links, balloons, and promised discounts for the parents and freebies for the children.

Bertha Wall, owner and director of The Perfect Solution Daycare Centers stood in the reception area giving interviews, passing out brochures, smiling at each adult and handing balloons to the children as they walked through the door. The P. S Center was her dream child. She had been a part of the project from the first findings to when the last piece of tile had been laid. Nothing had been done or bought without her prior knowledge. She was banking on making a fortune with the profits from The P. S. Center. It promised things that none of the other childcare centers in town could offer. A lot of money had gone into the planning and supplying. Nothing was cheap or short changed. Computers were in every class from the toddler to pre-kindergarten and two were in the after-school center.