Now that she was off the ground and dusted, the mother of the once ranting and raving youngster took his offered hand and shook it, introducing herself as Gwen Whitmore.  Her lunatic of a child was named Toby.  “You may have heard him?” she innocently and nonchalantly asked.  Elijah laughed easily and raucously at her sense of humor.<br/><br/>“Uh, yeah, that would be an affirmative,” he replied to her amusing question.  “I think the next two counties heard him, too,” he stated, his laugh having been replaced with a wide smile.  Attractive and funny, he thought, two of his favorite attributes of the fairer sex.  Although she wasn’t wearing any makeup (he suspected Toby had something to do with this), there was a natural beauty she possessed.  Elijah knew, however, that Toby had everything to do concerning the state of her hair, recalling her struggles with him while he was still in the car.<br/><br/>If he was being honest with himself, he was somewhat relieved to hear that Toby was in the 1st grade, instead of kindergarten with Rosalie.  That way, he surmised, chances of bumping into her on a daily basis were somewhat reduced.  They had just met, and he was already devising ways of avoiding her.  It’d been four years since his ex-wife walked out on them (shortly after Rosalie’s first birthday), but the sting still felt like it happened yesterday.<br/><br/>Elijah silently took note of Gwen’s mention of the judgmental glares.  So she saw those, then, he thought.  He wasn’t surprised, but he was hopeful that she at least might have been spared witnessing the hushed hostilities from the other parents.  Refraining from commenting about the others, he thought it best to leave that hornets’ nest alone; it would just rile him up again.<br/><br/>“How did Rosalie manage going in for her first day?  Was she alright?" Gwen enquired.<br/><br/>Chuckling before answering her, he eventually said, “She was okay, though she did wake me up earlier this morning.  Said she had nerve, which is why she was up so early.”  Elijah smiled again at his daughter’s choice of words.  “She meant nervous, but she called it nerve,” he explained with a laugh.  “I think once she saw a few of the crying kids, that was a sorta wake-up call for her, and her nerve wasn’t so bad after that.”  He shrugged with a grin, glad that Rosalie rallied and defeated her nervousness.  He was confident that she wouldn’t be waking him up early anymore with nerve issues.<br/><br/>Remembering Toby with the other woman, he stated, “That teacher who led your son away was sure working some teacher magic.  Too bad she can’t bottle it for sale to parents.”<br/><br/>After informing him of what the day had in store for her, Gwen said, "I'm sorry I charged into you, Elijah Primeau.  Thank you for not laughing at me."<br/><br/>Elijah smiled at her apology.  “I didn’t see anything to laugh about, and besides, I’m sorry for not falling down, too.  Then we both coulda laughed.”<br/><br/>Approaching with what was obviously her car, he was impressed with its condition.  Elijah had a pretty good idea about the year her Ford was manufactured, though its appearance didn’t betray its age.  He liked that, as he also tended to hold onto things that for other people woulda been well past its use-by date.  There were a couple of friends of his who traded in their cars for a new model annually.  He couldn’t picture himself ever doing something like that.  It seemed like such a waste.  Besides, if you properly looked after something, just as clearly as Gwen did with her Ford, it would last a while, thus avoiding any further or unnecessary expenses.<br/><br/>"I don't suppose you know where there's a recycling point nearby?" she asked.<br/><br/>He nodded, and then said, “There’s actually a few around here, though there is one a few blocks away.  This city is pretty big on recycling.”  Just before departing for his own all-wheel drive Jeep Wrangler, he instructed her, “Just follow me.  It’ll be on our right, next to a gas station.  I’ll have my window down, so when we get close to it, I’ll point like this.”  Elijah gestured with his left hand over his head, pointing and moving it like it was a turn signal.<br/><br/>Gwen offered her hand again.  "It's been a pleasure.  I'll see you at pickup?”<br/><br/>Shaking her extended hand, he replied, “Same here and yeah, we’ll probably run into each other again at pickup.”  Elijah smiled fiendishly before saying, “Though this time, I’ll be looking out for ya.”  As he released her hand, he headed toward his gun-metal colored vehicle.  He waved just prior to strapping himself in.<br/><br/>“It’s just pickup from school,” he muttered just above a whisper, “nothing more, nothing less.”  Still, it did produce some food for thought, as he powered his window down.  With Gwen now in his rear-view mirror, Elijah wondered how long it would be before he started dating again.  Up until about half an hour or so ago, he never gave it much consideration.