Queens, 2008

Henry Barthes, the new substitute at the school you'd taught at for nearly three years now, seemed almost immediately detached, apparently he never stayed in and school district long enough to form any real bonds with other faculty or students, which didn't seem to you like the correct way to teach.

These kids had been dropped through the net of greater society, gang members, prostitutes, drug dealers, they needed a decent education if they were ever to make it past high school.

You'd met him a few times at staff meetings, Henry, he always hung by the door, eager to get in and leave as quickly as possible, though you admired his composure when exposed to the hands and words of his new English class, it was a shame really, those kids had never been given so much as a glance and were therefore cast aside.

In the middle of a reading exercise with your class, you'd finally gotten the young men and women to settle down when you spotted Henry lurking at your classroom door.