Enjoy

(... cont'd)

I decided to bring Euterpe to my site of work - which happened to be her own classroom.

There were no fewer than two dozens of parents and children lining up outside to join the game. I was greeted by Ms Yu, the teacher-in-charge whom I met a few times previously. When she realized that only a half-exhausted father was coming with a suspicious-looking girl, she was a bit worried.

"Too bad Euterpe's mother could not come," the teacher tapped on the shoulder of my daughter, "We'd got to start. Who is going to look after her in the coming hour ?"

"Em ... maybe we can find a chair and let her sit at a corner of the classroom," I suggested, with some hesitancy, "I've brought a few story books with me. She may well just read them."

"Would that do ?" Ms Yu asked.

"Well, let's try." I was, subconsciously, equally incredulous.

************************

To my surprise, it worked out well. In that hour, my daughter just sat there, sometimes thumbing through her story books; more often she played with the balloons that I that I bought for her that morning, or looked at how others played. She didn't even walk around.

After the hour, we left. Ms Yu thanked us eagerly. When we walked out the classroom, I asked my daughter, "Are you bored ?"

"I'm OK," my princess replied, "But, are we having something more exciting next ?"

I laughed. Thank goodness.