12/12/12
She slipped on her sparkly teal sneakers, grabbed her backpack, took a bite of a cream cheese bagel, and ran out of the door. Today was such a special day. She walked to school on that unfriendly brisk December morning. She walked up the hill, to the right, straight for a little bit, down past the playground. She had finally made it to school. With pep in her step, she walked to her 2nd grade classroom. Her teacher Ms. Julie was sitting at her desk, clicking away at her brand new iPhone 5.
"Goooooooood morning Ms. Julie!" she said energetically for an eight-year-old at 7:30 in the morning. She was so excited for the day.
"Good morning Aliyah," she muttered while her eyes stayed glued to the mini screen in her hand.
"Please have a seat at your desk and take out your free reading book and read until the other students get here."
Aliyah giggled and sat at her desk, the plastic chair cold on her back. She looked at the chalkboard covering the north wall of the classroom where the date was written in the top right corner. Today was the day! It's 12/12/12. She quietly thought to herself with pure excitement filling every inch of her little body. She pulled out her free reading book, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. She traced her eyes from line to line but she couldn't focus. It was 12/12/12! She wondered if anyone else realized how special this day was. Was it just her? Ms. Julie hadn't said anything, but maybe she was saving it to share with the rest of the class when they all got here. Or maybe it was their little secret. The thought of that made Aliyah squirm happily in her chair, she couldn't even pay attention to Charlotte and Wilbur.
All the other 2nd graders started filing into the classroom, and Aliyah was greeting them with the biggest smile reaching from one of her ears to the other. Confused, they sat down at their desk, forgetting about the slightly disturbing smile they had been welcomed to the classroom with.
"Hello my amazingly smart students!" Ms. Julie warmly said as she stood up from behind her wooden desk revealing her frail body draped in a purple cotton dress that flowed down like a waterfall to the scratchy carpeted floor of the classroom.
This is it! She is going to say it! Aliyah thought to herself, shaking in anticipation. But then the strangest thing happened. Ms. Julie didn't say anything about the date. Aliyah looked around the classroom, trying to see if any of her classmates noticed why today was so special, but they were all going on with their usual day. Some had their heads resting on the desks, some were picking their noses, but no one seemed to notice the top right of the chalkboard with the spacial numbers 12/12/12.
A few sad hours past and no one had mentioned anything about the date. The clock hit 11 o'clock and it was time to go to our different math classes. She was sure that her math teacher, Mrs. Hines, would say something about the dates. She and the seven other kids from her class walked down the breezeway to the quad over where their math class was. Maybe we will learn the 12 times tables! Maybe we will make the number 12 with our geometry cubes! They walked through the heavy metal doors and her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Mrs. Hines' nasally voice.
"Ahhhh the kiddos from the Oak quad. How do you all do? How's the day treating you?"
Aliyah's eyes drifted from Mrs. Hines' deep orange hair to the whiteboard in front of her, and then to the top right corner where the date was written. She looked to make sure it was 12/12/12 because, for some reason, no one had said anything all day. After a few students had talked about various things, Mrs. Hines let out a big "OKAY", signaling the start of the math lesson.
"Today class, we will be talking about-"
This was the moment Aliyah had been waiting for!
"VOLUME!" Mrs. Hines said with excitement holding up her excited voice on stilts.
WHAT! She thought to herself. Volume? What does that have to do with the number 12?! She was furious. No one had said anything about how unusual and unique this day was. Humans are going to have to wait another whole thousand years until the next 12/12/12! This is crazy! The school system has failed once again.
The end of the day was marked by the final bell. Aliyah got her backpack, her copy of Charlotte's Web, and her winter jacket from her cubby and walked out the door. She walked up past the playground, straight for a little bit, to the left, and down the hill. She walked into her house and threw her backpack on the ground. She angrily grabbed her math homework on volume and started to work on it at the kitchen table.
Her mom made her favorite Meat Pie for dinner. The smell of the caramelized tomato sauce and sweet potatoes was infused in the air. One whiff of that dish being baked from the oven and all of her frustrated feelings about 12/12/12 were washed away.