"It's Kaelan sitting behind me. His ballpoint pen got my clothes all dirty."
Kaelan was Helen's son, and the two kids were classmates.
Unexpectedly, the seat switching brought them together.
She took off her school uniform and handed it to me. A few blue ink lines were not deep but as messy as a ball of yarn.
They looked tough to wash, but as long as it wasn't Elisha feeling unwell, everything else was manageable.
Helen might be awful, but her child wasn't necessarily to blame.
Little boys could be naughty. Perhaps he didn't do it on purpose.
But Elisa said that when her class monitor went to the podium to answer a question, Kaelan stuck out his leg and tripped him on the way back to his seat.
Luckily, Elisa caught him.
"Mommy, if I hadn't caught him, he would have gotten hurt badly."
Hearing Elisa say that it was hard for me not to suspect that Kaelan held a grudge against her.
"Mommy will talk to the teacher about this."
But Elisha stopped me.
"Mom, nobody wanted to sit in front of him, and I felt sorry for him because he doesn't have a dad, so I volunteered to the teacher.
"Maybe he didn't do it on purpose. Let's give him a chance. If it happens again, I'll tell the teacher."
Seeing that she had her way of handling the situation, I decided to wait and see.
Elisa told Troy about the incident, and unexpectedly, he put on his clothes and headed straight for Helen's door.
"I'm going to ask her how she's raising her kid," he said.
It took me by surprise.
Was he suddenly brave enough to confront her, just to make sure I wouldn't reconsider the divorce?
But Helen wasn't exactly a pushover.
In the middle of the night...
I was half asleep when the sound of a child's agonizing cries reached me from the hallway.
The sharp scolding was Helen's.
I glanced at the clock.
It was 12:08 a.m.
It seemed extreme, disciplining a child in the hallway at this hour.
"You had to meddle, didn't you? Now her dad's come knocking at our door. Let's see if you dare do it again.
"If there's a next time, I swear I'll chop your hands off!"
I opened the door.
Kaelan's eyes were bright as he looked up at me.
His face was swollen, his hands covering his backside, his sleeve wiping his face.
His snot was smeared all over.
Seeing me open the door, Helen stopped in her tracks.
Troy quickly stepped forward to shield the boy.
"It's just a small matter. A little scolding should do, right? Is all this necessary?"