Suddenly she heard a noise. It was not a loud noise – more of a scuffling sound. She strained her ears to hear it better. It had gone, but then it came back – an odd, scraping sound, rather as if something was scraping at a bit of paper.
Jenny looked behind her. There was nothing there. She turned to face the class again, and she saw that several people were looking up at her. One of them was George Apple, and he was grinning broadly.
“Is there something wrong, miss?” he said.
Jenny shook her head.
“No,” she said. “I thought I heard a noise, but I think it’s gone.”
Everybody looked up now, and Jenny noticed that most of the class was grinning. This was a trick of some kind – she was sure of it.
“I heard a noise too, miss,” said George Apple. “I thought it was coming from the drawer in your desk.”
Jenny looked down. The noise was there again, and yes, it did seem to be coming from the drawer.
“Why not open the drawer and take a look,” suggested George Apple. “Just to check.”
Jenny reached out and opened the drawer, and the moment she did so out jumped the largest brown rat she had ever seen. Jenny pushed her chair back as quickly as she could, letting out a scream that made the windows rattle.
“A rat!” she shrieked. “A great big rat.”
The rat had now landed on her table and was scurrying around, wondering what all the fuss was.
“You’ve got a rat on your table, miss,” said George Apple helpfully. “Should I take it away for you?”
Jenny nodded miserably. She had always been scared of rats and when it had popped its head out of the drawer her heart had almost stopped. She sat quite still as George Apple sauntered up to her desk, picked up the rat by its tail, and took it back to his desk. Then he slipped it into his bag, and sat back at his desk.
Every eye was on Jenny. Some people were trying not to laugh, and succeeding. Others were giggling under their breath. Everybody thought it very funny – except Jenny. She had no idea what to do. Should she report George Apple to the principal? If she did that though, she would have to face Miss Ice again and that was the last thing she wanted to do. So she decided to get back to maths and to forget about rats for the time being.
“Will you give us the answers now?” asked one of the girls. “I hope I’ve got everything right!”
Jenny took the girl’s book and looked at it. The work seemed rather difficult to her, and she was not sure if she would be able to do it.
“Well, let’s see,” she said. “I’ll call out the answers and you can all mark your own work.”
Reading out from the girl’s book, she called out the answers.
“Problem number one – the answer is two thousand three hundred and forty-two.”
Nobody said it wasn’t, so Jenny moved on to the next problem, and the problem after that. Each time she called out the answer she saw in the girl’s exercise book, and each time, it seemed to her, she had the good luck to be quite correct.
“Thank you,” she said to the girl as she handed her book back. “You’re obviously very good at maths. Well done.”
Now what? They had finished their mathematics, and Jenny did not fancy the idea of doing any more. She might not be so lucky this time, and it would be terrible not to be able to do the sums she was meant to be teaching.
An idea came to her.
“Let’s do some geography,” she said. “Can anybody tell me what the capital of France is?”
“That’s easy,” several voices called out. “Paris.”
“Good,” said Jenny. “Now what about Italy? Who knows the capital of Italy?”
Several hands went up, and Jenny pointed to a boy at the back.
“Cairo?” he said.
Everyone roared with laughter.
“That’s in Egypt,” said George Apple, in disgust. “Everyone knows it’s Rome.”
Jenny thought quickly. Perhaps she should try something harder.
“What’s the capital of …” she paused for a moment, trying to think of a country. “Yes, that’s a good idea. What’s the capital of Australia?”
The word Australia just slipped out, because Australia had somehow come to her mind. But no sooner had she said it than she realised, with a shock, that she had no idea at all what the capital of Australia was. There was a hope, of course, that somebody would know. If only somebody came out with the right answer, then she would not be shown up.
There was a silence. People looked at one another, and one or two scratched their heads. Then a girl in the middle row raised her hand slowly.
Jenny felt a surge of relief.
“Yes,” she said. “You look as if you know the answer.”
“Sydney,” the girl said. Then she added “I think.”
Jenny had been very happy to hear “Sydney”, but was less pleased to hear the “I think” added on at the end.
Was Sydney the capital city of Australia? Surely it must be, now she came to think of it. It was so big and it had that great big bridge and that wonderful white opera house. When you thought of an Australian town you always thought of Sydney. It must be the capital.
“That’s right,” she said. “Well done. That was not an easy question.”
She was about to ask another question, when she saw George Apple’s hand go up.
“Yes, George,” she said. “Do you have a question?”
“It’s not Sydney,” he said simply.
Jenny looked at him. Was he trying to be troublesome, or could he possibly be right?
“Of course it’s Sydney,” she said. “We all know it’s Sydney, don’t we everybody?”
“Yes,” said a lot of voices. “Of course it’s Sydney.”
“It isn’t,” said George. “I’ve been there, and I know.”
Suddenly everybody became quiet. Jenny stared at George Apple for a few moments. Had he really been there, she wondered, or was he just pretending?
“Well,” she said after a while. “If you’re so clever and you’ve been there, you tell us what the right answer is.”
“Canberra,” said George simply. “Canberra’s the capital of Australia. And look, I’ve got an atlas here to prove it.”
Nobody said a word. The whole class stared at Jenny, who said nothing, but just stood there, becoming redder and redder.
Just at that moment, the door behind her opened and another teacher walked in.
“Is your class ready for gym?” she asked. “You’re late already.”
Jenny heaved a sigh of relief. Sydney, and Canberra, and even Australia itself could be forgotten now. Thank heavens for gym!
~ 4 ~
Trouble in the Gym
The gymnasium was a large hall with a creaky wooden floor and all sorts of exciting equipment arranged around the walls. There were wooden horses for jumping over; ropes to swing on; and wooden bars for climbing up. Jenny was delighted. This was very much better than mathematics or geography. She could really teach gym, she thought, even if she wasn’t a real teacher.
The pupils all changed into their gym outfits and stood waiting expectantly for Jenny’s instructions.
“Can we play with the sand bags?” one of them asked.
“No,” said another. “Can we get the trampoline out?”
Jenny clapped her hands, just as she remembered her last gym teacher doing. Everybody fell silent.
“We’ll do some vaulting first,” she said, in a firm, gym-teacher-type voice. “Make a long line and jump over the horse one by one.”
The members of the class quickly fell into line and started to jump, one by one, over the wooden horse. Most of them did it quite well, although there were one or two who got stuck halfway and had to be helped across.
After everybody had jumped over the horse twice, Jenny decided it was time for something a little bit more adventurous.
“We’re going to climb the bars now,” she said. “Everybody will climb right up to the top and
then climb down again.”
They started, one by one, to climb the bars. The first girl went up very quickly, and then shot down again in no time at all. The second was almost as fast, but not quite, but the third was best of all. She climbed up and down so quickly that you could hardly see her. Then it was George Apple’s turn.
He was much slower, and clearly felt rather nervous about the whole thing. He took a lot of time to reach the top and then, when he did, he stopped.
“Come down now,” Jenny called out. “The next person wants a turn.”
George looked down at the floor of the gym and turned quite pale.
“I can’t,” he said, his voice shaky with fear. “I’m stuck.”
“Come on,” urged Jenny.“Just climb down the same way as you climbed up. It’s simple.”
George gulped and slowly lowered a foot to the rung below. There was a creaking noise and then the sound of snapping. Jenny caught her breath as a large section of the bars gave way beneath George. If he had not been properly stuck before, he certainly was now.
George let out a wail.
“I can’t,” he shouted out. “The bars have gone!”
Jenny dashed forward and looked up at George. He was right – he was absolutely stuck.
“He’s going to die, miss,” said George’s best friend. “That’s the end of him. So sad. Goodbye, George! Can I have your rat?”
“Oh, miss!” wailed one of the girls. “Poor George! He’s not all that bad. It’ll be an awful pity to lose him!”
Jenny looked about her. She was the teacher, and she would have to save George. But how?
Her gaze fell on the ropes tied up against the opposite wall. Yes, that was the way to do it! She could use the ropes. It was exactly what Tarzan would do, if he were there.
Wasting no time, Jenny ran to the other side of the gym and untied the thickest rope. Then she tucked her skirt up, climbed a short distance up the rope, and pushed herself away from the wall with all her might.
Like the pendulum of a great clock, the rope, with Jenny clinging to it, swung all the way across the gym. There was a gasp from the pupils as Jenny sailed her way across the void, and a sigh as her outstretched hand narrowly missed the terrified George. But Jenny was not put off by failure, and when she swung back to the other side she pushed herself off again.
This time she reached George with no difficulty, and, taking him quite by surprise, wrenched him off the bars with one hand. Then, holding on to him with all her strength, she sailed back on the rope to the other side and then slid down to the ground, George and all.
As her feet touched the floorboards, a great cheer arose from the class.
“Well done!” they shouted. “Well done! You’ve saved George’s life!”
George stood up on his rather shaky legs and dusted himself down.
“Thank you,” he said to Jenny. “I’ll never forget that. You’re a real heroine, miss!”
“Oh, it was nothing,” said Jenny, casually. “That’s what teachers are for, aren’t they?”
George looked down at the floor. He was clearly feeling ashamed of himself.
“Sorry about the rat, miss,” he said. “I was just having a bit of fun.”
Jenny smiled. “Don’t worry about that,” she said. “It was quite a good joke, I suppose.”
*
Everybody was too excited after that to do much more gym, and so they all changed back into their ordinary clothes and began to go back to the classroom. Jenny told them to go in twos, with each person having a partner, and for some reason this seemed to please everybody.
On the way, they saw the principal, or rather, she saw them. She was standing in the doorway to the library, and she frowned crossly as Jenny walked by.
What a horrible person, thought Jenny. She’s obviously very cross about something. I wonder what it can be?
~ 5 ~
Miss Ice is Taught a Lesson
Jenny was soon to find out why Miss Ice had looked so cross. Just as the class reached their desks again, with everybody talking in an excited way about how George had been rescued by the new teacher, the bell went for break.
As she had promised, Alison, the teacher who had been so friendly earlier on, came back to show Jenny to the staff room. Jenny had to give up any thought of running away now – it would have been very rude to Alison to do that.
She was very worried about going into the staff room, because she thought that she was bound to be found out there. But Alison was very helpful and poured out a cup of tea for her, also giving her first choice of biscuits. Then Jenny sat down, with Alison at her side, and began to drink her tea.
The other teachers were all looking at her, and Jenny felt very awkward about it. But they all seemed quite friendly too, and Jenny soon relaxed.
But not for long.
“Where were you teaching before you came here?” asked one of the other teachers politely.
Jenny had been about to take a sip of her tea, but her hand froze halfway to her lips.
“Er …” she began. “Where was I a teacher?”
“That’s what I asked,” said the other teacher.
Everybody looked expectantly at Jenny, but her mind was a complete blank. Then a place came into her mind, and she blurted it out, relieved that at least she could give some answer.
“Canberra,” she said.
“Oh!” exclaimed one of the other teachers. “How interesting. Please tell us all about it.”
Jenny felt her cheeks burning red.
“It’s in Australia,” she said.
Everybody laughed.
“Oh, we know that,” said somebody. “But what’s it like?”
Jenny looked at the floor. This was terrible. Why had she not run away on the way to the staff room? At least then she would have been spared this terrible nightmare.
“It’s very nice there,” she said. “What with the sea and everything.”
There was a silence. Then one of the teachers sitting at the far end of the room said something.
“Sea?” he snorted. “Canberra’s hundreds of miles from the sea.”
Jenny looked at him.
“I didn’t say it wasn’t,” she said defiantly.
“But you did,” he said. “You said the sea was what made Canberra a nice place.”
Jenny shook her head.
“That’s not what I meant,” she said, trying to sound slightly cross. “I meant that if you don’t like the sea, and you want to be far away from it, then Canberra’s a good place to be.”
A few of the teachers looked a bit puzzled by this, but, to Jenny’s great relief, it was at this moment that the principal came in and everybody turned in her direction. She did not look very happy, and Jenny noticed that for some reason the principal was glaring straight at her.
Jenny’s heart sank.
“She must know,” she said to herself. “She must have found out!”
The principal helped herself to a cup of tea. Then she examined the plate of biscuits, took the largest, most chocolatey one left, and bit into it with a resounding crunch. As she did so, she shot a furious glance at Jenny.
“I saw your class going back after gym,” the principal said frostily. “I noticed that they were walking in pairs.”
Jenny looked about her for support, but everybody was looking at the principal.
“Yes,” she said after a while. “I think they were.”
The principal swallowed the last of her biscuit and cleared her throat.
“In this school,” she said, her voice still cool, “the pupils always walk single file. That’s the way we do it.”
“But that’s silly!” Jenny blurted out. “That means that they must take twice as long to go anywhere.”
As Jenny spoke, some of the other teachers drew in their breath loudly. They seemed to be shocked that anybody was daring to tell the principal that she was wrong and they were watching closely to see what would happen next.
The pri
ncipal put down her teacup with shaking hands.
“I beg your pardon?” she said. “Did I hear you correctly? Did you say it’s actually better to let the pupils walk in pairs? Is that what you’re saying?”
Jenny shrugged her shoulders.
“Yes,” she said simply. “That’s right. After all, it does seem more sensible, doesn’t it?”
The principal let out a sound which was half a snort and half a puff of rage.
“That’s not the point,” she hissed between clenched teeth. “If I say something is to be done a certain way, then that’s the way it is to be done!”
“But what if it’s better to do it another way?” said Jenny, feeling and sounding very miserable. “Surely you should do something the best way rather than do it another way just because that’s the way it’s always been done.”
The principal stared at Jenny, her mouth open in astonishment that anybody would actually dare to talk like this.
Then, from the other side of the room, one of the teachers spoke out.
“She’s right,” he said. “I don’t see why we should always do things the way they’ve been done in the past. And anyway, why don’t we vote on it?”
“Good idea,” said another teacher.
“Yes,” said another. “Let’s vote.”
So the teachers all voted, and everybody, except for the principal, voted to allow the pupils to walk from classroom to classroom in twos, or even threes. The principal was dumbstruck and, after she had finished her tea, she slunk out of the room, looking quite confused and unhappy.
“Thank you,” whispered one of the teachers sitting next to Jenny. “You’ve done what we’ve all been itching to do for years. You’ve put Miss Ice in her place! Well done!”
“Let’s all celebrate by having another chocolate biscuit,” said Alison, reaching for the biscuit plate.
“But Miss Ice said we can only have one a day,” said somebody else.
“I don’t care,” said Alison. “In fact, I’m going to have three!”
All the other teachers agreed, and as they sat around finishing off every chocolate biscuit on the plate, they smiled warmly at Jenny.