Oh dear, we're all of a flutter!
The bulk of the other, older kids watched little Josh run up to Miss Chappel and grab onto her skirts with a combination of derision and disgust.
"Don't go!" He said as he looked up at her and then over at his Pa. "You can stay an' learn too!" He said to Isaiah and then looked at the teacher, then back to Addy. The teacher seemed real nice, but he didn't know her and nobody else for that matter except the Jane girl and her dead sister. He bit his bottom lip, willing himself not to cry in front of everybody.
"Tuh! What a baby!" snorted Gilles Patterson Forde "Oh boo hoo, you can learn too!" he impersonated Josh in a mewling voice, successfully raising a laugh from some of the other kids.
Jane turned around in her seat and gave her brother a hard stare, then she whispered to Weedy, who was close enough to hear.
"Pssst, Porter, you'd better get him back in his seat before he becomes a laughing stock!"
Clemmy wasn't impressed either "Hmmph, I wouldn't cry on my first day at school if I were alive!" she said to Jane in a snide if ghostly voice. Well, that was easy for her to say!
"Do you come an' get Weedy when school is over or what?"
"Nah, he comes home on his own," Addy explained to her brother, but then, when Weedy had been Josh's age, younger, even, he was on his own, on the streets, so he didn't have a problem navigating them on his own.
But then Josh ran over and begged her not to leave, and she was inclined to stay as he asked. But she knew he had to learn to stand on his own. "I can't." Kneeling down, she gave him a hug. "I got horses that need feedin' an' some deliveries ta make. But you'll do just fine. Weedy..."
Well, Weedy was taking care of business himself! As soon as GPF made his snide comment, Weedy was out of his seat, and gave the other boy a sound slug in the nose, drawing blood! "Let him be!"
Oh dear, we're all of a flutter!
"OW!" Gilles yelped when Weedy biffed him in the hooter "Miss! Miss! He just hit me!! I'm bleeding!" he cried out to Miss Bowen as he pointed an accusatory finger toward the incensed Chappel boy.
Jane jumped up, a heady mixture of sisterly and womanly feelings bubbling up inside her. She started with Gilles "Be quiet you, don't be a snitcher" she warned, but then, to her own surprise, found herself also shouting at Weedy!
"And don't you dare hit my little brother! Can't you see he wears glasses?! Ooooh, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! Don't ever speak to me again, Porter Chappel!!" she fumed before sitting back down in a rather violent manner , folding her arms and only doing a slightly better job than Josh at holding back her tears.
The rest of the kids couldn't help but issue a collective "Whooooooooo!"
Clemmy just looked at the ceiling, shaking her head and sighing "Ahhh, the course of true love n'er did run smooth"; for the girl's command of English literature and understanding of human nature had improved considerable since she'd been dead.
@[JulieS]
[PS Sorry for pushing in the queue, but thought I'd better put my kids immediate reactions in, before Miss Bowen deals with the insurrection]
Weedy's reaction to Gilles' remarks happened too quickly for her to do anything but she was going to make sure it didn't go any further. Picking up the cane she kept on her desk, and she rapped it twice. The cane was a good way of getting the children to settle and just the thought of what could happen if she did was enough to get everybody's attention.
"Now children," she said in a stern manner, "this is the not the way to behave and this is certainly not the way to welcome a new student."
Turning to Gilles, "For your rude remarks you will be required to do detention which will consist of staying inside during the lunch for the next week."
She then looked at Weedy, "While it is admirable that you defended your cousin. Hitting someone in the nose is not the way to deal with it. You, too will also be to do detention for one week by joining Gilles at lunch time as well."
Of course, Kate would keep both young men separate during the detention as she putting them too close together might make it more tempting for one of them to accuse the other of getting him into trouble. As for young Josh, she felt a bit sorry for him but once he was used to going to school, he would be fine...a fact which she had no doubt both his father and Addy would know.
Before addressing the rest of the children, she took a deep breath, "Now, take out your readers while I finish with our visitors."
Going over to Isaiah and Addy, Kate smiled meekly, "I'm sorry for the rough start."
@ [Bongo]
@ [MD
Sit down, shut up, don't touch anythin'
Addy gasped as Weedy went after the P-F boy, not that she really blamed him, but this wasn't the way to handle it. "Weedy Porter James Chappel!" she snapped, but stayed where she was...this was school, this was Miss Bowen's territory, and she was the one to deal with it. Later, at home, would be a different story!
Weedy, for his part, immediately headed for the corner of the room, not feeling at all sorry. But then Miss Bowen said he had to waste his lunch time with that Gilles jerk? He'd rather stand in the corner with that Dunce cap on!
"Yes, ma'am," he grumbled as he returned to his seat. "Sorry," he muttered to Josh, although he'd do it again.
"I'm sorry for the rough start."
"Don't worry about it," Addy commented quietly so the kids couldn't hear, "I think I'd'a done th' same thing." Chuckling, she glanced at her brother. "I know he would! Runs in th' family!"
Josh's eyes widened as everything started to happen in the school-house. That Gilles boy from earlier was poking fun at him, then Weedy slugged him, then Jane was out of her seat, then the class was ooooohing and ahhhhing, then Miss. Bowen had a cane hitting it on her desk. Josh's eyes widened. All that ruckus dried his tears up real quick along with the stern look from his father. He hadn't even had time to reply to Addy. That one small little move of asking them to stay had caused all this! Weedy was in big trouble and he felt terrible and he wouldn't even be able to be with him at lunch now. He dropped his head when Weedy walked by and apologized. "I'm sorry too." He muttered to his cousin, hoping Weedy wasn't mad at him over all this.
Isaiah felt proud of Weedy for going over and defending Josh the way he did. He bit down on the inside of his cheek to keep himself from smiling, he supposed that wasn't appropriate right now.
"Don't worry about it," Addy commented quietly so the kids couldn't hear, "I think I'd'a done th' same thing." Chuckling, she glanced at her brother. "I know he would! Runs in th' family!"
Isaiah reached down, picking up Josh and looked at Miss Bowmen, smiriking some. "I'm afraid she's right. We Chappell's would have kept you on your toes. I'm supposin' they don't pay you near enough for dealin' with all these youngin's. I don't know how you do it." He looked at his son sternly. "Now you'll apologize as none'a this woulda happened had you gone to yer seat like you were supposed to." Josh met Miss. Bowen's kind eyes. "Sorry." His mind was all over the place, but right now with the focus on his teacher, that cane consumed his thoughts. "What'd'ya do what that cane?" He asked, glancing at it with his eyes and then back to her.
Isaiah shook his head. "I suppose she'd use it on your bottom if you don't behave." He said to his son who was still looking at Miss Bowen with wide eyes for confirmation. Isaiah shook his head.
@ [Bongo
@ [Javia
@ [Julie]
"Yes, I do use it sometimes but only for those who truly deserve it by doing something that's very, very wrong," she said in a calming voice. She wanted to add more but decided that was enough for now on the matter of the cane. Young Josh would eventually work out that any punishment was mainly detention or staying after school to write lines on the blackboard.
Turning to Addy and Isaiah she smiled, "I understand that the first day of school can be hard, so please take all the time you need to help Josh and when he is ready he can join us."
@ [MD]
@ [Bongo
"Boy needs ta learn," Addy commented, glancing at her brother. She'd leave it to Josh, but she was of a mind to let the kids work things out themselves. They could come back around at lunch time, and Weedy was here to look after his cousin.
"It's all right," Weedy muttered to Josh as he shuffled back to his seat. "Miss Bowen only uses the ruler if she really has to." Now, the teacher before her had delighted in whomping the kids for the smallest infraction, so there had been little fighting back then. "We'll be all right. Gilles Patterson-Forde is useless as a polecat at a beauty contest."
As for Jane's tirade, Weedy told himself it was all for the better, he didn't need no girl trailing him!
Oh dear, we're all of a flutter!
The morning lesson was pretty much as per usual, with Jane sticking up her hand and almost pulling her arm out of its socket when she knew the answers to Miss Bowen's questions, which was most of them, and making an odd grunting noise which any teacher would recognise as an attention seeking 'I know Miss, I know Miss!!' by the more intelligent girls (the boys never seemed to suffer this malady, even the clever ones being literally too cool for school to actually volunteer to answer a question, and terrified of being labelled as a suck up)
It was at lunch break that things got tricky; Weedy and Giles were both kept in as a punishment. Jane decided to try and make amends a for her earlier outburst: she marched up to Weedy and with an air of someone maintaining an air of dignity in the midst of a terrible marriage breakup and announced: "Porter, although all is over between us, I do not see why we can not both act like civilised human beings... I shall take care of little Josh during lunch break as you can not." She held out her hand to the boy.
When they were gone, Giles turned to Weedy in a friendly manner (for boys never fall out after a fight and a shared punishment tends to fuse them together all the more) and declared "Boy has she got it bad for you!... I wouldn't be in your shoes for the world, ol' feller."
Miss Bowen was in the stock cupboard, Giles leaned in closer and whispered "I wonder what torture she's got in store for us?"