Lollygaggers

I'm pretty sure my older two girls have secretly become good buddies with the evening maintenance personnel at the Junior High and High School. In fact, they must be covertly assisting them after hours with various projects or maybe just helping shut off lights and lock up classrooms because that's the only reason I can figure why they're always the last ones out of the school building each day. Maybe they got hired part-time to work a few shifts mopping floors or dusting lockers and are just hiding their income from me? Or maybe their working off their loan from the snack bar? They do buy a lot of cookies. I don't know.

I know it's not detention because I probably would have gotten a call already plus it wouldn't be every day and include sports practices, so it has to be something. I mean, most kids fly out of the school as soon as the bell rings or race out of a practice cause their starving but not my girls. I always rush and rush to get to their school on time and then I sit. And sit and sit and sit. Verbally saying out loud in the empty truck, "C'mon, Sis! Where the heck are you?"

I watch kid after kid waltz out of the building thinking my daughter MUST be coming sooner or later, but no. More kids. Then more kids. Still no daughter. And then FINALLY, after all the cars are gone and the sun is starting to descend, out she saunters, laughing with her friends or alone with her nose on her phone, totally oblivious to the fact that she is one of the last souls to leave the building. Unaware that our family's dinner is probably burning in the oven or that her little sister is now late to practice.

And every time I ask them what took them so long, they always have some weird excuse like they had to help their friend with their locker or they couldn't find their shoes. Every day? So I just stopped asking. And I noticed the lights in the school are pretty much out the moment they leave so my theory on the afterhours employment is probably correct. Maybe I should smell their hands for cleaning liquid?

Anyway, I know they're in their own little world and as far as they're concerned, I have no life, other than to cater to them, so why should they hurry? They'll get there when they darn well feel like it. "I'm coming!" is the response I get when I finally lose my patience and text them, "Where are you?" Coming when exactly? Tonight? Or after you're done locking up offices and putting away gym equipment? After you're done fixing the broken ceiling tiles and remodeling the locker room? Because I'm on a schedule and if you're on call this evening, then I'd be happy to come back when you're done but I need to get!

But what it actually boils down to is, they're both lollygaggers, aka dawdlers and they take their sweet time leaving the school at the end of each day without a legitimate excuse.

And I'm the one who is forced to sit and wait on them until the day they turn 16.