Golf, subs, and aliens - Pt2

She got through social studies with just one more blunder. Ms. L asked Fiona a question, and Fiona answered and was sure she was right. Ms. L got a look on her face where she pressed her lips together and squinted her eyes. It was the kind of look a kangaroo might get when asked to identify a bowl of jello. It turned out that Fiona’s answer was correct. The problem was, it answered a question Ms. L asked five minutes earlier.

“Fiona, are you paying attention?” asked Ms. L.

“Uh, I’m sorry, I’ll do better,” said Fiona, her ears burning.

When recess came, Fiona was so totally ready to get out of the room and play slap ball with Aerya. Just as she got to the bag of play equipment, Tony grabbed the ball and ran off with Eric. Fiona and Aerya played a few rounds of finger rhymes with Maggie. Maggie asked if Fiona had read her note. Fiona was so caught up in the challenge of the day, she completely forgot the note! We’ll talk at lunch, said Maggie, and then recess was gone, stolen by the ever-hungry clock.

The next subject was science. Ms. L always got excited about science; in fact, a little too excited, the way someone from outer space would be excited. She knew all about the elements, about molecules, atoms, covalent bonds, and a million more things. It was in science that Fiona thought that Ms. L was most likely from outer space, rather than being three different people. Just as Fiona was ready to open Maggie’s note, Ms. L asked Fiona to come to the board, and write the three states of matter.

After neatly writing her answers, Fiona was certain that she had it right, and her day would finally change. Fiona would get a ‘good job’ from Ms. L, and the rest of the day would be easy-peasy. Instead, Ms. L had her squinty face again when she read Fiona’s answer.

“Solid is correct, Fiona, but the other two - squishy, and air? I’m afraid those are not the correct terms.”

Fiona’s ears burned again as she sat down. Dakota nearly pulled her arm out of joint from raising her hand so hard. Ms. L called on Dakota, who declared ‘liquid, and gas’ as the other two forms of matter. Excellent, said Ms L, as Fiona sat down, wondering who cast the spell that was ruining her day.

On this same day, Aerya always had the right answer, wrote on the board correctly, and had made her map in color. Aerya was having a wonderful time, and at lunch, traded two of her cookies for Sam’s ketchup packets. That made Aerya’s day perfect. While eating, Aerya smiled and chattered like a hyperactive poodle with too much coffee while Fiona looked at her sandwich, wondering who stepped on it. Maggie asked if Fiona had read her note. Fiona just closed her eyes, and put her head down on the table.

Right into the pile of ketchup that Aerya had squeezed onto her sandwich bag.

In the afternoon, Ms. L returned homework and tests. Fiona got a B on her spelling test. Fiona was certain that one of the words marked wrong was absolutely correct. She challenged Ms. L, who asked Fiona to look up the word in the dictionary. Of course the dictionary agreed with Fiona. Then Ms. L looked at the spelling, which somehow changed, so that now the dictionary agreed with the teacher. Ms. L looked sympathetically at Fiona.

“Fiona, did you study for that test?”

“Yes, Ms. L, I did. A lot.”

“Did you use the 3 x 3 Method?”

“Sort of. I studied the words and wrote them out.”

“Fiona, that is not the 3 x 3 Method. We went over 3 x 3 as way of studying to cement the information with concepts blah blah blah . . .” At which point, Fiona had no idea what Ms. L was saying. She stood by the teacher’s desk, nodding when it seemed the right thing to do, and went back to her seat, stuck with a B on the spelling test. Fiona didn’t sit down, though. No, she went back up to Ms. L’s desk, because Fiona’s three page report was missing the middle page.

“That’s impossible!” said Fiona. “I turned in all 3 pages!”

“Well, that may be, but the middle page is missing here.” Ms. L pointed to where the middle page should be in the report. Fiona took the report, pulled the pages apart a little more, and saw a bit of paper caught in the staple.

“Ms. L, if you look, you can see the little bit of the middle page. It was there, except it got torn out. See?” Fiona thought she finally had the edge on Ms. L and missing homework. This was proof that something happened! Maybe now Ms. L would apologize to Fiona for all the other homework she lost.

“Fiona, we are not trying to fix the blame, we are trying to solve the problem. That is the constructive approach. I haven’t suggested that anyone is at fault. You wrote this on the computer, so why don’t you just print another copy and turn it in? I won’t reduce your grade over this.”

Reduce her grade? Fiona was mad. SHE wasn’t the one who lost the page! And just what was her teacher doing with student reports so that pages got torn out? Usually when homework turned up missing, Ms. L was all about who was to blame. She would say ‘I put all the homework in this bag, and if you turned it in, it would be here.’ That was Ms. L’s usual argument, and her excuse for marking Fiona’s homework as missing.

This time, when Fiona could prove that Ms. L was to blame, did Ms. L just accept responsibility? Nope, she brought up her ‘we are not going to fix the blame’ excuse. That was just great. Fiona took a breath, and in a tense voice said,

“Alright, Ms. L, I will bring in a new copy tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Fiona.”

Fiona went back to her desk, her chest buzzing with anger. This was just too much! All day long Fiona looked like a doofus, and now, when Fiona could prove that Ms. L lost homework, that proof didn’t matter. Why did Ms. L have to call her up to write on the board? Why did Ms. L have to ask Fiona to collect the homework? And just how had Ms. L changed the dictionary just by touching it?

 ‘This day stinks’, thought Fiona. ‘It stinks as bad as a thousand year old rotten egg laid by a big, stinky chicken.’

Could there be some way to get even for this difficult day, and explain the homework? Maybe Ms. L used homework for her space ship. Certainly, only an alien had the power to change a page in the dictionary. Alien - space ship - hmmmmm. What if Fiona could find Ms. L’s space ship, and tell the police? The principal would have to adjust Fiona’s homework grade them. Except, how could she find the space ship when wherever Ms. L had it was so well hidden, even the police were baffled?

Perhaps she could say just the right thing to trick Ms. L into accidentally telling her where the space ship was parked. What could she ask Ms. L?

Fiona was thinking this over when she heard her name.

“Fiona!” It was Ms. L, smiling. Fiona was surprised from her thoughts, and her heart jumped a beat. What if Ms. L read Fiona’s mind, and was going to erase her thoughts to keep her space ship a secret? Would she have to touch Fiona’s head, just the way she touched the dictionary to change that page?

“Yes, Ms. L?”

“I’ve decided that we are going to have a movie this afternoon. Would you like to choose what we will watch?”

All of a sudden, the dark clouds of a bad day parted, and a golden opportunity dropped into her lap. This was better than trapping the three different Ms L’s and showing the principal how everyone was tricked. This was better than finding the space ship! This was the moment that would change Fiona’s worst day into one of her best.

“You mean, I can choose the movie?” Already kids in the class were whispering their suggestions.

“Robots!”

“Chicken Little!”

“All About Cheese!”

“Shut up, Sam!”

“Snow Buddies!”

“Yes, Fiona, I think that since you’ve worked so hard today, you should choose our movie.”

Now Fiona smiled.

“Ms. L, that is really nice. I would love to choose the movie, but here is one thing I would love to do more.”

“Really?” asked Ms. L. “What?”

“I’d like to give this chance to - Aerya. Let her have my turn.”

Ms. L lit up like a fireworks factory on fire. Fiona knew that of all the right answers, THIS answer was the best of all!

“Oh, Fiona, I’m so proud of you! Everyone, this is what I meant when I talked about generosity and sharing. Fiona, are you sure?”

Fiona was never so sure of anything in her life.

“Oh yes, Ms. L. I want to give my turn to Aerya.”

“You set such a fine example.” Ms. L beamed at Fiona, then turned to Aerya.

“Aerya, would you like to choose the movie?”

“I would love to!” Aerya was up as if there was a spring on her seat, zipping over to the movie shelves.

Fiona sat down, ready to enjoy the results of letting Aerya choose what to watch. For 15 minutes, Aerya unmade every one of her decisions, until finally, Ms. L was so impatient, she grabbed the movie Aerya was holding and put it in the player, saying enough was enough.

Thank you, Aerya, thought Fiona, smiling behind her hand. As Ms. L turned off the lights, Fiona was still smiling, for the time being forgetting all about Maggie’s note.

-- The End --

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