Episode 40: The Karen Incident (Prequel)

She arrives loud.

Entitled.

Predictable.

“This school is failing children!” she announces.

“…Elaborate,” I reply calmly.

She demands special treatment. Favors. Exceptions.

For a child who… does not meet standards.

“I don’t do favors,” I say.

“I have connections,” she snaps.

I smile faintly.

“…So do I.”

I present documentation.

Her complaints. Her contradictions. Her behavior.

Every detail.

Silence.

The administration reviews everything.

She is asked to leave.

Permanently. Quietly.

Later, I am offered the position of Head of English.

I accept.

In the staff room, I place Persephone and Hades’ artwork in my corner.

Dark. Precise. Perfect.

A colleague asks, “Your children?”

“…Yes,” I say.

Pause.

“…They are… acceptable.”

It is the highest praise I can give.

And in that moment, I realize—

I did not win through politics.

I simply refused to lose to stupidity.