Category Archives: Series

Dream Job: Elementary School Teacher



Over The Bridge: Part 1

The Cottage

In the small town of Quedlinburg, Lopsi there was a diminutive, pale white cottage in which an average sized family lived. There were 2 kids, Tathia and Thea McFaddle, who were both girls. You could say they were both tomboys because they loved exploring and didn’t mind getting dirty.

The thing about this cottage is that it is right at the edge of the woods. Also the whole cottage, except for a little pathway, was surrounded by a wide, periwinkle-colored stream that continued into the woods. There was an old, wooden bridge stretching from one bank of the stream to the other. It was about 7 feet long, 3 feet wide and had a little bit of paint left on from when it was in nicer shape.

The forest consisted of colossal trees that towered high over the house. They covered the house in a large shadow that from the outside, making the outside of the house seem very spooky.

The inside was a different story though. While you’d think that it would have one floor with a few rooms this one is uncomparable to it!

There are 2 floors, with a total of 3 bedrooms, a master bedroom on the second floor, a smaller one on the second floor and a guest on the first floor. There were 1 and ½ bathrooms. Also their was a  and a playroom.

Also on the first floor there is a living room with a 40 inch TV, a kitchen with a granite island and a pale brown colored cabinets, the 1/2 bathroom, a dining room with a homemade wooden table and chairs, sanded to perfection and the guest bedroom. I know what you’re thinking, if Thea and Tathia have this much room to play why don’t they? Why do they, so to say, waste their time outside?

The Dare

athia and Thea have gone to Red Ross Elementary Schoool for 5 years. They had found all the teachers quite nice except they had a neutral feeling toward the ir current teaacher due to the fact that he always had his headphones on and they never learned anything. Typically they just sat and talked themselves by reading books the whole day. Suddenly, out of the corner of Tathia’s eye, she saw the teacher make a finger motion that meant time to go out to recess.

Tathia and Thea weren’t the most popular kids in school, and every once in a while they got picked on. And today was espeically that kind of day. May was the main problem but a lot of people tagged along with her so they all picked on them every once in a while.

“Hey, T and T why do you live in the deep, dark woods? I’m surprised a monster hasn’t come over that wooden bridge and eaten you yet.” said the snobby May coming over to the bench Tathi and Thea were sitting at.. She bared her teeth like something scary.

“Just because you’re afraid doesn’t mean that we are.” retorted Thea, angry.

“Excuse ME!” May exclaimed

“You heard me, you’re just scared.” Thea said, standing up off the bench. Now May and Thea were face to face.

“I have an idea, to prove to me you’re not scared I dare you to go into the woods over that rickety bridge of your’s and if you’re scared I win. I’ll go in first JUST to prove to you how brave I am. Deal?”

“Deal.” Thea replied.

“Oh, and the whole school is invited. It’ll be a memorable occasion to see you two scared because somehow you can always keep it in. Maybe that’s why you’re face is always twisted.” May exclaimed. Then she chuckled evilly.

“One more thing. My mom heard from my dad that you’re mom and dad are going to a Mississippi for the week and are leaving you home alone because she ‘trusts you'”, she made the bunny ears sign, “to not set the house on fire and they’re leaving you alone. The first Saturday in March is when they leave so let’s do it at 10:00 A.M, obviously, sharp!”

 

The First Saturday In March

Tathia and Thea woke up that morning to their parents kissing them goodbye.

“See you Tathia. Bye Thea. Now behave. You can invite people over but don’t go crazy. And I’m sure you know but there is no school this week.”

“Yah!” they simultaneously exclaimed. But then they remembered that it was the day that they were going into the woods. Uh-Oh.

After a few more “behaves” and “don’t set the house on fires” and “there are sandwiches in the fridge for you, 56 of them, don’t eat them all at onces” there parents were on their way to Mississippi.

“There gone, and it’s almost 10 o’clock. What are we going to do about the woods?” Tathia said.

“Well, were just going to have to face the woods. They can’t be THAT bad. Anyhow, May is going in there too so if she can do it we positively can.” Thea responded to her sister’s concerned face.

“I… I’m afraid. I guess I’m just a scaredy cat while you and even May are so brave!” Tathia stuttered.

“Oh, Tathia, it’ll be alright, we’ll be together and it’s not that dark in there.

Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

The clock cuckooed it’s last cuckoo for 10 o’clock and Tathia and Thea hurried outside. May was walking up the sidewalk towards the house. Unknown to Tathia and Thea, May had concocted a plan that she wouldn’t have to go deep into the woods. she would only have to go in so no one could see her and then she would curve out and no one would know. Then a little while later she would go back into the woods and to the bridge and everyone would say she’s so brave. Truthfully, May was scared of going into the woods but she didn’t want anyone to know that.

The rest of the school kids had just arrived and they were ready to start. May went in first following her plan. She waited at the very edge of the woods near the sidewalk and continuously checked her watch, to see if it was an appropriate time to go back. The next time May looked it was 10:48 and she thought that some people might even be worried

May came out of the woods.

“May, we we’re worried!’s” and “We’re you scared?’s” and “What happened in there?’s” echoed through the air around Thea and Tathia.

“Oh, I wasn’t scared but I believe that those two will.” May said pointing towards Thea and Tathia.

“We are NOT scared May and I wish that you would realize that because you’re wasting your breath.” Tathia said, courageously.

“OOHHHH!” the school kids exclaimed.

“OK. It’s you’re turn T and T. I just can’t wait to see you’re face. Now go on, go on!”she said practically pushing them over the bridge, “See you never again!”

And with that Thea and Tathia walked into the dark, spooky woods.

 

The Deep, Spooky Woods

Tathia and Thea were just walking into the woods when they heard a loud HOOT!

“What was that?” Tathia exclaimed, with a worried expression.

“It was just an owl.” Thea reasurred her.

They continued to walk. Suddenly Tathia stopped.

“Oh My Gosh.” she said under her breath, looking to her right.

“What’s wrong?” Thea asked, hearing Tathia mutter.

But Tathia just pointed. Thea looked to the side to and saw a huge mansion that looked occupated but taken bad care of.

“Do you think someone or something lives in there?” Tathia asked, shaking.

To answer there question they heard a sneeze. They jumped.

“Well, there’s your answer. You think we should go in there?”

“Well, I don’t really want do, which is probably obvious but if you want to. It’ll be quite a story if we find someone in there.”

“Alright.”

They walked towards the mansion that was towering over their heads.

 

The Mansion; What’s Inside?

Tathia and Thea walked towards the mansion door. They pushed it open with a CREAK. It was dark but thanks to a little spot where the trees were open, the house was illuminated in sunlight. They saw that there was little furniture and a barren fireplace.

“Hello? Anyone here?” Thea yelled.

They heard a sudden gasp and a huge thump coming from above them. Someone had to be up there and they were scared.

“We’re not going to hurt you, we just want to know who you are.”

They then heard someone slowly descending the stairs. A girl taller than Tathia and Thea bounced off the last stair. Thea immediately spotted something wrong with the girls face. It was all twisted and well, she must be deformed.

“Hello? Who are you?” the girl addressed Tathia and Thea.

“I’m Thea and this is Tathia.” she said pointing at Tathia, “We’re sisters, but who are you? Do you live here alone? What… what happened to you’re face?”

“My name is Kaui. My dad live with me, but he’s out gettin’ firewood. He get me really good if he see ye’ here. And me face, I born like this and I must live with it.” she said.

“You don’t go to school do you. Why not?”

“Me face look weird, Dad not want be red in face.” Kaui responded.

“Kali!” a voice called out.

“Dad! Go hide under me bed. Go! Go!”

Tathia and Thea, sensing Kali’s seriousness, ran up the stairs as fast as they can. They thought that they would have to look for Kali’s room but they saw that it was the only room on the floor. They ran over to the door and pushed it open. Inside was a small circular window that the sunlight also appeared through, making the room light. They saw the small wooden bed with a wool blanket covering it’s small area. They dove under it quickly just as the front door opened below.

“Kali, why are you out of you’re room? I told you to stay in there so no one could see you through this window!” a man, that must be Kali’s dad, said gruffly.

“I” Kali began.

“GO TO YOU’RE ROOM!” Kali’s dad yelled cutting her off, “I’ll carry you up if that’s necessary.

Kali started up the stairs with her dad watching behind her.

“Stay there until I call you for dinner. You can come down and get it and eat it up there.” her dad called after her.

“Ok.”

Learning More About Kali

Kali entered the room with another CREAK of the door.

“You can come out but you have to be quiet.” Kali whispered.

“How old are you Kali? How long have you lived here? What happened to you’re mo…” Tathia started but stopped due to a look like lasers coming from Thea’s eyes.

“I’m 12 year old and I lived here since I 7. And I know you’re wondering about mom. She die from Typhoid Fever when I was 6. We moved here after that because we had little money and know one to take care of me that wouldn’t scream except Dad and he not want to leave because he scared I go outside and make his face red.” Kali said, hoping she had answered all their questions, “How old are you? Tell me more about you.”

“Well, we’re twins and we’re only 11. We were born on March 16th. I like pizza and her favorite food is dumplings.” Thea said.

“What is pizza and dumplings?” Kali ase ked, curious.

“Well, pizza is cooked dough usually with tomato sauce and a variety of toppings like pepperoni or peppers and dumplings are small pieces of dough typically wrapped around a filling.” Thea exclaimed, surprised.

“Oh… that sounds good. I never heard of those. All I eat is jelly sandwiches, so really that is my favorite food.” Kali said, “And my birthday is March 23rd! So we’re 1 year and 16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23…” she counted softly, “7 days I think.”

“Yup, a year and a week apart.” Tathia said.

“A week?”

There conversation went on like this for a while. Kali said a lot of “What’s that’s?” and “Huh’s?” and Thea and Tathia responded with “Well this is’s” and “It goes like this’s”.

While Thea and Kali were talking Tathia was thinking. She then suddenly had an idea. She was so excited she immediately shook Thea.

“What’s wrong?” Thea asked, afraid. Kali had a sudden worried look too.

“I have the BEST idea EVER! Ever! Ever, Ever, Ever!” Tathia shook Thea again to show her point.

“And what would that idea be?” Thea asked.

Tathia whispered her idea into Thea’s ear. A broad smile spread across Thea’s face.

“That is a really good idea!”

Teacher Time

“Ok Kali, if you agree, Plan T Time is in action. Now our idea is that…drum roll please…we teach you the basic facts and then once we do that we have an even bigger plan.”

“Well, I would love to be taught!” Kali exclaimed. And I know a perfect time you can teach me. Dad goes out into the woods, to find wood and carves them in the shed outside. He stays there almost all day, everyday except for Saturday’s which is why he not outside. Do you think you could come over here everyday?”

“Sure Kali. We can come over for a week and then our parents will be home.”

“Don’t worry, I’m a fast learner.”

“OK. We’re going to have to sneak out though because it’s getting dark soon.” said Thea, looking out the circular window, “I have an idea of how to though. When you’re dad calls you for dinner. We’ll sneak down after you and when his back is turned we’ll run out of the kitchen and out the front door. Be ready to make excuses though, Kali.”

About half an hour later they heard “DINNER, KALI!” coming up the stairs.

“OK. We’ll see you tomorrow Kali. Now Tathia just be quiet as a mouse.”

Kali started to walk slowly, but loudly down the stairs in order to quiet any noises that Thea and Tathia would make. Kali continued but Thea and Tathia halted at the second to last step in which they weren’t visible. Thea quickly peeked her head out and saw that his back was turned. They quickly covered the 6 ft. distance between the stairs and the hallway that led to the door. Then they slowly opened the door with a CREAK. They stopped moving the door and held their breath.

“What was that?” Kali’s dad exclaimed.

“Me. I just moved a little. The floorboards creak.”

Saved. They exited the mansion and miraculously the door shut silently.

“Whew!”

“Well, I didn’t know that’s what we were going to find. No matter what she looks like, she has the ability to learn.

When They Got Back

When Thea and Tathia got back to their house it was nearly dark. Everyone had gone home. Everyone but May. You could tell that she had been pacing because there were Size 5 footprints that had trampled over each other in a straight line. She had been scared for them.

When they got back to their cottage, they saw that no one had waited for them to get back. No one except May. You could tell that she had been pacing back and forth because there were Size 5 footprints that had been trampled over each other multiple times. May had been scared for them.

“What took so long? I thought something happened.” May said, she then realized that she was practically being nice to them, “I hoped something had happened.” she said regaining her composure.

Tathia and Thea knew that they shouldn’t talk about Kali or she would spread it far and wide.

“We just thought it was interesting in there.”

“If you say so. It’s time I’m getting home. Mom is going to be worried.”

“Bye May. Good Night!” Tathia tried to say nicely.

“Night night, sleep tight, make sure the bedbugs bite.” she laughed and then started to walk away.

Thea yawned. “I didn’t know I was this tired. It was a long day. They opened the door of their house and got ready for bed. They put on there flannel pajamas, Tathia’s navy blue with roses at the top and Thea’s light green, covered in a variety of wild animals. They then brushed there teeth, making sure not to drip any water on the tile floor and crept to there room.

“Night Tathia. Tomorrow’s going to be just as long is today. It’s best we go to bed.”

“Night Thea.” replied Tathia, climbing into bed. A few minutes later they were both out cold, and snoring away.

The Big Question. What’s The Answer?

For the next 5 days, Tathia and Thea sneaked into Kali’s house and taught Kali her basic 12×12 multiplication facts, how to write the alphabet, how to say the alphabet, how to write a few words, and her name, and Kali grabbed right on. She could recite the alphabet in a matter of minutes!

It was the last day that Tathia and Thea were going to teach Kali before their parents came home and they had to go back to school.

When they were walking, Thea and Tathia were thinking. The were thinking hard. They had a big question. And what would the answer be?

They arrived at Kali’s house and walked up to her room.

“Kali, we have a big question. Would you like to come to school with us?” Thea asked.

“What about my face?!?” Kali replied, concerned.

“Kali, no one will care about your face when they see how smart you are.” Tathia said truthfully, “With just a little time at school you’ll be the smartest kid in the school and I’m not kidding!”

“OK, but what about my dad?” Kali asked.

“Well I was thinking that maybe we…” Thea said, then pointing at Tathia, “Could tell him our idea and how smart you are and maybe he’ll say yes.”

“If you really want to but he might not like it.” Kali responded.

“OK, that’s our plan.”

A few minutes later, Thea and Tathia were walking down the stairs and started walking through the kitchen. Kali was waiting on the bottom stair, with an air of hope on her deformed face. They continued to walk through the kitchen and towards the door. They went out and shut the door behind them.

They then walked towards the shed. They were scared, but determined by Kali’s hope. So they knocked.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

There was silence.

“Hello? We want to talk to you.” Thea bravely called.

There was still silence.

“About Kali.”

Someone’s hand turned the doorknob. The door opened.

“Who are you? How do you know about Kali?” Kali’s dad called.

“We went in there one day because we thought it was abandoned, but then we saw Kali. She was very nice to us so we decided to teach her some things and we asked if she could come to school as well. But we need your permission. She really wants to go and with a little more practice she’ll be the smartest kid in school!” Thea explained.

“Let me see her.”

“Kali!” Tathia yelled.

Kali ran out of the house. She suddenly stopped though. She hadn’t been outside in 5 years, not since she moved there when she was 7. She took a big look around and closed her eyes for a minute but then walked over to her dad confidently.

“Dad, I really want to go school! I want to learn more and have fun! No one will care about my face I don’t think. You won’t be red in face because I will be smart! I hope…” Kali exclaimed.

“Do you know your ABC’s, and what’s 7×12?

Kali recited the alphabet and answered a few more math problems which she answered all correctly.

“Going to school is what you really want to do, Kali?” her dad asked.

“Yes Dad. I really do Dad.” Kali replied.

“You can go to school Kali, and since I know you’ll obviously have friends,” he pointed at Thea and Tathia, “You can go.”

“Oh, thank you Dad. THANK YOU!!”

So Kali was going to school. Yay!

“We’ll see you tomorrow, we’ll meet you here for school. We have an extra backpack too. You can have that, and we’ll share our textbooks.” Thea told Kali.

They started to walk up the path that they had memorized from coming back and forth for the week. They reached their house to find their parent’s red car pulling into the long, dusty driveway.

“What have you been doing in there?” her mom asked.

Thea and Tathia told them the whole story when they went inside the house.

“Wow! That’s quite a story. You did a lot of stuff this week.” her dad said.

“We’re going to meet her tomorrow morning, so we have to leave a little early.”

“OK.”

They couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come.

Going To School

Thea and Tathia awoke early the next morning and quickly got ready for school. On their way out the door, they grabbed the flowered backpack in which they were to give to Kali for school.

“Bye Mom, bye Dad!” Thea and Tathia simultaneously yelled.

“Bye! Have fun!” their parent’s called after them.

They shut the door as softly as they could with all there excitement. It really had slammed shut but they hadn’t noticed. They ran towards the bridge and quickly crossed. They continued to run the continuously trodden pathway. They arrived at the mansion.

They knocked.

 

Part 2 Coming Soon!