After My Daughter's Student Card Failed, Chaos Hit

Marlene Cole, who has always been a reliable nanny, has called me three times in a row out of panic today.

"I got bad news for you, Mr. Spence! The security guard of the kindergarten refuses to let Erin into the kindergarten!

"He claims that the name on the student ID is wrong! The ID belongs to a little girl named Jodie! It's not Erin's ID at all!"

I look up from the spreadsheet I'm holding, a frown already gracing my features.

"Marlene, wasn't Harper the one who gave you the ID last night?"

Marlene sounds like she's about to burst into tears from panic.

"She did! But the scanner shows that Jodie Holmes is the ID owner! The security guard says that we've gotten the wrong ID, so now he's interrogating me!"

That's odd.

Half a year ago, I've pulled a few strings just so I can enroll my daughter, Erin Spence, into Starry Kindergarten, known as the most prestigious kindergarten in the city. In fact, I have to sponsor the kindergarten 300 thousand dollars in order to secure a slot for Erin.

Over the month, my wife, Harper Gilmore, has always been the one driving Erin to school every day. Today, Harper claims that she can't take Erin to school because she needs to pull overtime shifts at her company, so she has instructed Marlene to do so.

But how is it possible that Erin's student ID now shows another name when it's Marlene's turn to take her to the kindergarten?

I calmed the nanny, Marlene Cole, down and told her to wait at the entrance with my daughter, Erin Spence. After grabbing my keys, I headed straight for the kindergarten.

At the gates of Starry Kindergarten, I took the student ID from Marlene and tapped it against the scanner.

With a beeping sound, the scanner announced, "Class 1A, Jodie Holmes."

A young girl's face flashed onto the screen. She looked incredibly familiar, but I couldn't quite place her.

An inexplicable sense of unease settled in my gut.

I dialed my wife, Harper Gilmore's number.

It rang for a long time before she finally picked up. The background was noisy.

"Hello, darling? Is everything okay? I'm just about to head into a meeting." Her voice was as gentle as ever.

"Honey, did you leave the wrong student ID at the foyer last night? Marlene tried to scan it, and it came up as a kid named Jodie Holmes," I asked, keeping my tone casual.

There was a sharp pause on the other end, then came a forced chuckle. "Oh… that. I gave a colleague a lift home yesterday. His daughter's card must have fallen out in the car, and I picked the wrong one up by mistake."

Her voice was filled with self-blame. "Just have Marlene take Erin home for the day. I'll go to the school office tomorrow and get a replacement made."

"It's fine. Don't worry about finding it. A replacement is only a few bucks," I said calmly.

"No!" Harper's voice spiked, sudden and jarring.

Realizing she had overreacted, she immediately softened her tone and said patiently, "I mean, the administration there is a nightmare. To get a new card, they require birth certificates and charge a fee. It's a total headache.

"I'll do a thorough search of the car tomorrow. I'm sure it's in there somewhere. You've got enough on your plate, darling. Don't stress over the small stuff."

Since Harper put it that way, I didn't push it. I took Marlene and Erin back home.

But once we were back, the unease wouldn't leave me. I pulled out my digital tablet.

Harper had a habit of syncing her dashcam footage to our shared cloud drive.

I pulled up the recording from yesterday morning.

The video showed Harper loading Erin into the car, but then she pulled over in front of an old neighborhood.

A well-dressed man leading a girl approached the passenger side. "Thanks for the ride again, Harper," the man said softly.

"It's nothing."

Smiling, Harper patted the girl's head. "Jodie, be a good girl at school today, okay?"

"I will! Thanks, Mommy!" the girl chirped.