"A lot of this is pretty tough on us, Mr. Patten," Mrs. Fitzpatrick said to him in her office, "We're getting ready for the start of the new year, and while Molly Wayne has said it should be safe to for her to come back to work when the school year starts... we're still going to be running the risk of being short staffed."
Joseph Patten slowly nodded. In general, he agreed with Mrs. Fitzpatrick's position regarding the situation as the new school year was on the near horizon and being unprepared for it wouldn't necessarily help things. But, Clemens was his only living family and had asked him to be his best man. It was an honor and somewhat of a surprise, as he figured Clemens had friends that would also fit the role, but in a way he felt honored to be chosen for the role. He wasn't going to let the cousin he grew up with down, and thus he was now getting things ready for the journey to Florida for the wedding. For the moment, it included setting the schedule for his trip with the school principal, Ms. Fitzpatrick. The school board was already aware and okay with it, but he did have to make sure the school was well aware and thus have a substitute ready when the school year started if he had not returned.
"I'm sure, ma'am," Joseph answered with a nod, "but Clemens is my only living family. I will have to do this."
Mrs. Fitzpatrick nodded with a sort of motherly smile, which Joseph had known for a long time. He was old enough that he hadn't had Mrs. Fitzpatrick as a teacher when he was growing up, but he had still worked with her as a teacher through the years, and was ultimately behind the Council vote that promoted her to being the principal. He knew Mrs. Fitzpatrick well, and the two of them had worked well together, though it almost always remained professional on all levels. It was not the growing mentor/friend type relationship he had with Molly.
"And my aide is very familiar with my lesson plans and what I expect," Joseph continued, "he should be more than capable of helping any substitute that may need to be hired."
Mrs. Fitzpatrick then nodded again, "I hope you have all your materials ready?"
Joseph nodded, "Yes, I've made sure I have all my materials ready for the start of the year and even a few weeks into it... That should leave things ready."
"Very good," Mrs. Fitzpatrick said with another nod, "and be sure to tell your cousin congratulations from all of us here in Columbia Falls."
Joseph nodded.
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Returning home at the end of the day, Joseph stretched out his back a bit as he came through his front door. He wasn't sore by any means, but it did feel good to stretch and loosen up the muscles in his back. With that he made his way into his quiet home. The only sounds he could hear the sounds one would hear from any house "settling." On some days, particularly when the kids at school were excited about something, the quiet was often refreshing. He made his way down the main hallway and paused to look at the hallway bookshelf. He smiled at the family photographs of him and Clemens growing up. There were now a few added photographs. One was the tasteful photograph of Clemens that his cousin had sent him, another was from the visit Molly had paid to the school with Machli and Michael.
He gave a bit of a chuckle at the memory of their visit. Molly had stopped by to pick up paperwork and planning information that she'd need and to show her cubs to the staff. When she had made her way to Joseph's classroom, he'd found himself in a brief hug and thanked for all the help he'd given her and received the idea for the picture. Joseph had cautiously agreed as he didn't want to hurt the tiny cubs, and he did well with them. Though, that then lead to some humor. The two infant cubs picked up their mother's scent on him from the earlier hug and announced their hunger by gumming his shirt. Molly gave a laugh and took the picture.
"I suppose I'll need to get a picture of Jenny and Clemens together," Joseph said quietly to himself as he looked at the photographs.
It was in this moment where Joseph knew how solitary his life was. He knew people followed his opinion, as he had done his best to care for the students of Columbia Falls, but aside from Clemens, he didn't have much in the way of family, and outside of Molly, he had to admit that he didn't have much in the way of personal friends. Many times, he was perfectly fine with this, as it allowed him to be there and care for the children of Columbia Falls, though there were times where even he had to admit things weren't always as he might have liked. Molly could go home to her husband and family, and Clemens had Jenny. He, by contrast, had no one, and sometimes that did hit him regarding the lack of such personal connections, but he put it aside, and continued on.
His first stop from the hallway was to go into the kitchen where he gathered a drinking glass and filled it with some water. He then move on to what would be the next major tasks. Hotel reservations and airline tickets. He had the money set aside for this, and that wasn't an issue. The only task he had to handle was making sure the reservations and tickets were bought and in order. To handle this, he moved to his own personal office and turned on his own computer. While he waited for it to power up, he carefully thought through other things he'd need to have ready and sipped from his glass of water as he did so.
"I can get my clothes ready the night before I leave," Joseph thought to himself, "I can use a camera to record the wedding for George and Molly... though... given what Clemens has said regarding the details that he and Jenny have gone through with their wedding, private cameras might be banned in favor of a more professionally made version... it'd be best to ask Clemens directly to see if there is... if so, ask if I could get a copy... if not, ask if Clemens would be okay with a private copy being made."
He took another sip from his glass of water and then logged onto the internet with the intention of getting his plane tickets handled first. The easiest was to go through Kalispell and fly to Denver and from there go to Tallahassee. He could then rent a car and drive to meet meet with Clemens and check into his hotel. The only other option would be to get a ride from Clemens, but his reasoning for wanting to give Clemens his personal space and he didn't want to intrude on them on their wedding night, had that as a last resort option. He knew that Jenny had been wrestling with the whether or not she would become an Animal Person, though he had no way of knowing which way she leaned and how close she was to making the decision or not. Joseph, though added that to his reasons for wanting to give his cousin and his love their space.
He carefully went through the various options before getting a United Express flight from Kalispell to Denver, though he'd had to switch airlines from Denver to Tallahassee, but Joseph managed to accept it, figuring that the smaller company might not have the funds to fly beyond the connecting flights with larger airports. He then printed out tickets and receipts that would be needed update Clemens on his route and timetable He did the same for the hotel he had booked a room in. With that he turned to his email to let Clemens know his plans.