School had just ended and all the children were more than ready to go home after a full day of work. This would be a shorter week than normal due to the Thanksgiving recess starting on Wednesday. They only had one more school day ahead of them for the week, so hopefully it would go by fast like all the others seem to. With all the work required—math, reading, social studies, science, handwriting, language arts, art, music, physical education, library, and special research assignments—the students did not have time to waste.
Their teacher, Mr. Jay, was also ready to go home, but he knew that he still had lots of grading and lesson planning to do. The curriculum was interesting and fun for his students, but it called for much preparation. As he thought on these things, the afternoon dismissal process began. Mr. Jay said good afternoon to his third graders as they left the classroom and reminded them of their homework assignment that was due tomorrow morning.
“I’d better go on outside with the other teachers to help the students leave the building and the school grounds safely,” thought Mr. Jay as he walked out behind the last of his students. Suddenly, he was stopped by one of Miss Hart’s first grade students who had been running in the hallway.
“Mr. Jay, Mis Hart said thank you for sharing that really cool book with us last week.”
“No problem, Harry. Did you enjoy the story?” asked Mr. Jay.
“Yes! It was fun!” replied the sunny-faced little boy as he ran away quickly waving good-bye.
“Slow down and walk!” said Mr. Jay with a stern but friendly voice as he waved good-bye to Harry. He also wondered why Miss Hart sent her student to say that again when he had already heard her say that last week.
Mr. Jay joined the other teachers to make certain that the children left the school property safely and in a timely fashion. Some children needed constant reminders about not running in the hallways. Others seemed to need a review about bus safety, but it was good to notice that most students obeyed the school rules.
As the last bus pulled away, the schoolyard became very quiet and empty, though some teachers lingered to have short discussions. While most of them were already leaving to go home, Mrs. Chiding and Mr. Jay paused to talk about their busy day with their third grade students. Mrs. Chiding began to complain about one boy in her class who could not seem to control his behavior. Her tone of voice revealed that she was very upset about him.
The quick arrival of dusk seemed to rush both teachers along to their classrooms within an hour of their discussion. Nightfall came a little faster this time of year. Mr. Jay said good evening to Mrs. Chiding as he went back to his classroom to finish his paperwork.
As he entered the school building and walked to the hallway where the third grade classes were, he could tell that the custodians had swept some of the classrooms on that side of the building. They temporarily made small dirt piles to be gathered all at once later.
From the distance, Mr. Jay noticed that his classroom door was open. As he approached his door, a small furry-looking object caught his eyes. It was on the floor near the staircase next to the hallway entrance of his classroom. It looked familiar, so he decided to get a closer look. To his surprise, it was one of the stuffed animal toys he kept on one of the shelves in his classroom.
“How did you get here?” asked Mr. Jay as he bent down to pick it up.
Let’s go back to the classroom. I have to hurry so that I can go home to my beautiful new daughter and loving wife, Mr. Jay thought to himself as he picked up the little lamb, which was somehow still spotless on the dirty hallway floor. Suddenly he heard a crashing sound coming from his classroom. Could it be one of the custodians dropping something?
When Mr. Jay entered his classroom, he found that it was not a custodian working but that one of the ceiling lights had fallen. He could see that the outer metal stem and the electrical wire on the inside had come apart. Perhaps if he had not taken the time to pick up the lamb, that same light would have fallen on him, causing injury. He had to tell the custodians about the light. They could repair it, making sure that the classroom was safe once again. Maybe all the lights would have to be replaced with safer ones. One thing was certain: it had been one mysterious evening at the school.