Redemption

By the day’s end, Fall had decided that he could easily get along with everyone-even the ragged, silent Cathy; all, of course, save Greesome, whom no one seemed to like. Still, with the threat of a week’s detention hanging over his head, the bully had been careful to keep his taunting to himself for the rest of the day.

Most of all, David was certain that he would enjoy studying under Miss Thatcher; although somewhat strict, the young teacher was very pretty. Thus, by the end of the day, the boy had memorized everything that he could about the blonde, bespectacled woman. As well, she seemed openly taken with him.

At three o’clock, the children lined up at the door, for dismissal. The teacher called Ricky from the line and reminded that he had a blackboard to clean, and a floor to sweep. With his unhappy compliance, the rest of the class quietly filed out. Once outside, he immediately found himself joined by Zak, Jenny and Ewing.

“So where do you live?” The smaller boy asked, pulling his scarf around his neck.

“Over on Bloody Run Road,” the new boy replied, adjusting the ride of his left glove.

“Wait,” the girl recognized, “Do you mean that old Green house?”

“Yes.”

“Oh! I have been there, back when Billy Tumult lived there.”

“Billy who?”

“Tumult,” she replied, “His family lived there until last year.”

“Why did they move?”

“Because Billy’s father got a new job as a ship builder. Apparently, from what I understand, he works for the Winthrop Company in California.”

“I liked him,” Ewing recalled.

“So did I,” She agreed, “Although not as much as his sister, Abigail. She and I were good friends, and I miss her.”

“I didn’t like him too well,” Zak confessed.

“Why?” Prentice asked uncertainly.

“Because he cheated,” the smaller boy explained, “I used to play marbles with him, but I caught him sandbagging shots. I told him to quit, but I caught him doing it again. So, finally, after three chances, I quit playing with him.”

“Do you play?” Jenny asked David. Yet, the boy did not answer. Rather, he stared at something ahead. Looking, she saw Cathy walking in front of them, her head bowed in thought.

“Oh boy,” Leer announced when he saw the girl, “Here we go!”

In the wake of this, a silence rode the four until they caught up with the girl. As they skirted around her, Fall looked over and smiled at her. Her response was a sullen glare.

“Why is she so quiet?” The new boy asked as he shifted his books into his other hand.

“Who? Your neighbor?” Jenny prodded in a slight tease.

“No one knows,” Zak replied, “She doesn’t talk to anyone.”

“But-whatever you do-do not pick on her,” Ewing warned, “Miss Thatcher is extremely protective over her!” At this, a silence resumed over the four of them, as Fall considered the pretty schoolmarm and once more denied that he was developing a crush on her.

For the remainder of their walk home, the kids talked about the newly elected President Custer and the threat of a war with Spain. During this, Jenny wondered if, perhaps, the Spanish had captured David’s dad. Although Fall and the bigger boy were uncertain, she and Leer were open to the possibility.

“I am going to ask my dad if he has heard of the Osprey,” Zak decided, “He is a seaman too.”

“Wouldn’t it be interesting if they had sailed together?” Jenny offered brightly.

“It would,” the new boy shrugged, “But, I highly doubt that they have.”

After dinner, David helped with the dishes and then did his homework. This was easy, as it consisted of twenty division problems, and three pages of reading. When he was done, he joined his mother and grandparents in the sitting room. There, he sat practicing his drawing as they discussed the possible repairs that they wanted to make to the old house.

“Now that Christmas and moving is out of the way,” Grandpa mused, “I was thinking that David and I could rebuild the stairway.”

“How much do you think that would cost us?” Ma asked.

“Well, if we do it the way that I would like, maybe thirty dollars, or there about.”

“That’s rather steep!” Mary protested in disbelief.

“But that only consists of the materials,” William countered, “It would be even more if we paid someone else to do it.”

“But, surely, there is something less costly that we can do in the meantime?” The elderly woman insisted.

“Well,” her husband searched, “we might replace the door frames. That would cut down on the drafts to some extent. Also, it would be a relatively cheap job.”

“But, wouldn’t you have to remove each door?” Ma asked.

“Yeah,” her father replied, “But it would only take a couple of hours for each door.” Then, looking over at David, he smiled. “But, it will be fun for us to do it.” With this, Ma likewise looked over at the boy.

“What are you drawing, Son?”

“I am drawing a diagram of a Wright flier,” he explained, “I was going to take it to school and show the class.”

“Let me see it,” Grandpa coaxed. Standing, the boy surrendered it to his elder. After looking it over, the old man passed it on to his mother. “That’s a good job Davie!” He approved.

“Well, I have always said that David was talented,” Ma affirmed as she passed the picture on to Grandma.

Later, as he lay in bed, Fall’s young mind was its usual whirl of thoughts. Some of these were about the improvements for the house. Others were about what might have happened to his father. But mostly he thought about all of the new friends that he had met.

Miss Thatcher was pretty, he decided for the hundredth time. More importantly, she was very kind to the class, and had a way of making learning fun. Jenny was very pretty, as well she was not like other girls, and seemed like someone who would be fun to play with in the summer. Zak was small, but funny. He seemed like another person who would be fun to play with, as did the big Ewing. Ewing, who hated Greesome, would not tolerate any guff from the big bully. Then, suddenly, his mind fixated upon the sour, sullen Cathy.

She was a pretty girl, he decided as he recalled her green eyes glaring at him in passing, but she always seemed so sad. As someone who did not like being sad, he felt a twinge of sympathy for the girl. He finally resolved to try to find out what made her so upset.

The next thing that he knew, he was floating over the ground, looking down at a crowd of people, who were looking up at him. Glancing upward, he saw that he held the string of a single red balloon in his hand.

“How is this holding me up?” The boy wondered aloud.

“That is what we are asking!” Miss Thatcher replied from the crowd. Suddenly, the balloon began to pull him upward. Higher and higher he rose, until the crowd below disappeared from view.

“How do I get down?” He wondered in sudden panic. The next thing that he knew, Ma was waking him up for school.