Alas, Poor Yorick

As an English teacher, she’d use the prop when she taught Hamlet at the end of October. Shakespeare is difficult to make exciting to younger generations raised on movies and social media. The most famous scene is when Hamlet realizes the skull he is holding and talking to is probably the king’s former jester, the one that used to make him laugh. Alas, poor Yorick. In class, the students were either mesmerized or repulsed by the skull she brought forth. Either way, she figured, they wouldn’t forget the storyline.

Her students were mostly successful, her husband had been well respected, and all was perfect within her small circle of the world until everything came crashing down upon her several years earlier. He had left for work early as usual, but fate had cruelly intervened, and a horrific car crash claimed his life. As she passed the scene of the accident, she recognized his car instantly, an older blue Dodge now in pieces after being hit by two different cars.

Tears streaming down her face, she knew it had to be him. Looking at the accident scene before law enforcement got there, she couldn’t figure out what had happened because the amount of metal and carnage covered the highway, and an intense fire had started. In a state of shock, she decided to break the law and took a few personal items from the scene, mementos of their lives together. It felt right, as nothing would ever be the same again.

She found teaching teenagers was a healthy way to work through the grief, the loneliness, the utter unfairness of how life had been to her. The kids found ways to keep a smile on her face. Her classroom brought her such joy, but each day she came home to an empty house, and the ache never quite went away. The solitude always felt uncomfortable.

After a lifetime of teaching, retirement called her, and she answered. It took months for her to pack up a lifetime spent in the classroom, giving away things that anyone else may have wanted. Posters, teaching mugs, and literary tchotchkes were snapped up. Other English teachers gladly accepted the props for the stories they taught: swords, daggers, Viking hats, chests of gold, fake flames. They were mostly cheap dollar-store pieces, but they helped make the stories come alive. She kept the Yorick skull tucked away in the bottom of the main tote. It felt so familiar after being used as a prop for so many years. At the end of her tenure, she was able to encapsulate a thirty-two years of teaching into one box.

After the last day of school, she brought the one tote home and set it on her table. She carefully unpacked the skull first from the box. “Welcome home, Honey. I hope you like what I did with the living room.” She set him down gently on the coffee table. “Together once again. I've missed you.”