Redemption

Miss Thatcher chose to use the situation as a teachable moment. Because, once the shock had worn off, she saw many lessons that the children might take from the situation and the protective alien.

“Alright,” she began, “Who can tell me what Ricky did wrong?” At this, Angelina raised her hand.

“Yes?”

“He bullied people, and caused problems.”

“Yes, but I was meaning in this immediate situation,” the teacher specified gently. At this, Zak raised his hand. Seeing this, the blonde beauty nodded to him

“He lied to his dad, and got him to come in here acting like a jerk.”

“Okay,” the teacher accepted awkwardly, “I suppose that that is one way of putting in it. He lied. What did this do?”

“It caused more problems?” Sam, the quiet boy offered.

“Precisely!” The teacher approved brightly. Then she explained, “Because I was going to overlook the past, and let him back into the class. However, when his dad came here acting so disruptively, I had no choice but to expel him. Otherwise, I would be showing Ricky that, if he wanted to get his way, all he had to do was go running to his dad. Then, before you knew it, he would be acting out all of the time. When he did, the rest of you would start doing so as well, because you would see him getting away with it and think that you could as well. Therefore, if I let him get away with it, I would have to let you get away with it. And, before long, no one would be learning anything, and I would lose my job.” Pausing, she looked around and asked, “Now, who can tell me what the wise founders of our country did ensure that our society did not have to muddle through these problems?” At first, no one answered. Finally, Cathy raised her hand.

“Yes, Cathy?” The teacher asked, obviously happy that the shy girl had volunteered.

“They made laws to apply to everyone, the same way?”

“Yes!” The pretty woman crowed proudly, “In other words, no one can break the rules and be allowed to get away with it; Not the president, or the congress. Not the senate or judges, not the police, or the military. Everyone answers to the rules, no matter who they are, what office they hold, or how many friends that they have. Because, as it is said, the United States is a ‘Nation of laws, and not men,’ as no one is above the law. That way, everyone is treated fairly.” At this, Zak held up his hand.

“So, you had no choice but to expel Greesome. Otherwise . . .”

“Otherwise, you’d let him think that he was above the rules,” Jenny picked up thoughtfully, “And soon, the rules wouldn’t mean anything, because everyone would be breaking them.”

“You are correct!” Miss Thatcher applauded. Then, looking over at the image, she smiled proudly.

“I love children!” Click agreed.

At the end of the day, the pretty blond asked the kids to wait while she locked the school, as she was going to walk with them. As they waited, Click’s image stood amongst the crowd, although she had once more disguised herself as a bracelet around David’s wrist. At the corner by the now empty warehouse, she said goodbye to the other kids, and walked along with David, Cathy and the gang. When they reached Bloody Run Road, Zak Jenny and Ewing said goodnight.

“I was thinking,” the teacher announced as they made their way, “It would be okay if Click comes to school from now on.”

“Well, so long as I am not being a distraction to the other children,” the image permitted. Looking happily at the bright, smiling Cathy, the teacher shook her head.

“No, my friend,” she assured the entity, “you will be anything but a distraction. In fact, I think that you will motivate the children to try even harder.”

“I am okay with it if David is,” the alien offered.

“Let’s do it,” he shrugged happily.

When they reached Cathy’s run-down house, they saw a note hanging on the door. Running up, the little girl saw that it was a note telling her that Grammy and Pa were at Fall’s house. So, the four continued on. When they reached his house, they found a celebration of sorts going on.

“A hundred and thirty-five dollars!” Grandpa told them happily, “Click’s furniture was so well crafted, that the furniture store gave us a hundred and thirty five dollars!”

“Wow!” The teacher astounded happily.

“And, after we saw to the other things, we still have a hundred dollars left,” Ma added.

“So, Grammy got her medicine?” Cathy asked hopefully.

“Yes dear,” Thelma assured her with a smile, “I got my medicine.”

Before she knew it, the families had decided to invite Miss Thatcher to dinner. As they waited, the teacher recalled the day’s events and the class’s meeting David’s friend. This brought a stunned look to the adults’ faces.

“He threatened to set the school on fire-with the kids in it?” William gasped in horror.

“Yes,” the bespectacled blonde affirmed frankly. Then sweeping a hand towards Click’s image, “But she helped him to see the wisdom in leaving.”

“I will know if he does try to set the school on fire,” the entity promised with a slight edge to her voice, “and I will make him wish that he had not. As I told David when I had to kill the dog, I will not allow anything to harm him. As he loves all of you, your loss would hurt him. So, I must protect you as well.”

“Have you thought about going to your uncle with this?” Ma asked Mabel.

“I would, but he made an implied threat, and not a direct one,” the teacher explained, “Still,

If he tries, then not only will Click get to play with him, but he will face the law as well.”

“Well, I didn’t say anything,” the entity admitted, “But he and some other men were watching us when we were walking home.”

“Any idea of what they were up to?” Dale asked.

“Nothing, other than their watching us. I know that they called Miss Thatcher and me ‘witches.’”

“All of this, rather than make his son behave himself!” Grandpa scoffed.

“Ricky has been a problem through the entire year,” the schoolmarm confessed, “And, try as I might to reason with him, he insisted upon causing trouble in class. Therefore, eventually, I had to look at the overall picture of what was happening. He was but one student, causing hardships for everyone else. Thus, where I do not believe in overlooking anyone . . . “

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” Dale offered.

“Indeed,” the pretty teacher agreed.

“So, what was he doing?” Grandma asked.

“Well, at the start of the school year, he decided that he did not like Sam-.”

“Sam?” David gasped, “But Sam never does anything!”

“I know. However, he had decided that he did not like him. So, he was constantly pushing him, and threatening him. Finally, from what I have heard, Ewing convinced him to leave the boy alone.”

“He did,” Cathy affirmed, “He caught him bothering Sam as they were walking past the warehouse, and Ewing beat the stuffing out of him. He made him promise to leave Sam alone.”

“Well, I talked to his father about that, and he promised to behave himself. Then, he tried to start on Jenny. First, he stole one of her books. I found it, and made him give it back and apologize. Then, he knocked her books out of her hand after school one day. This was a mistake, as she’s a tough little girl.”

“He liked her,” Cathy explained, “And he thought that she liked him too. But she told him that she likes Ewing and they are going steady. He didn’t like that, so he tried to pick on her to make her go steady with him.”

“I thought that there was something between Mr. Prentice and her!” Miss Thatcher elated happily.

“What did she do to Ricky?” Grandpa asked in sneaky happiness.

“She beat him up. Then, she threatened to get a pair of her older sister’s bloomers and make him wear them!” The little girl recalled, bringing a laugh to the room, “She told him, ‘I’m not afraid of you! You are a big sissy!’”

“Then he broke a window in the school, while throwing rocks at Jerry. A gentle boy, Jerry does not like to fight, but he stood up to him. So, then, he started on Zak. But, Ewing found out, and beat him up again. So, then he started on Cathy, always making fun of her because of her family’s misfortune. Well, I threatened to go to his dad once more and he stopped. Then, I caught him trying to steal money out of my purse. I paddled him over it and sent a note home with him. Looking back I should have pressed charges, but I didn’t want to put a child through criminal prosecution.” Pausing, she looked down at the floor, “Which, the truth told, I did tell Uncle Steve about the boy’s pushing Cathy down during the rabid dog attack. He is looking into the matter.

“I’d have broken his fingers,” Dale dismissed.

“As much as I’d like to have done that, I obviously could not,” the teacher countered with a slight snicker, “Rather, I visited Mr. Greesome at work one day, when class was out over the Christmas holiday. In doing so, I learned three things. The first was that he had never seen the note. The second was that Ricky had learned his dishonest behavior from his father. The third was that Christian women are not safe around that bunch of thugs in his union.”

“Tried to bother you-did they?” William coaxed.

“Let’s put it this way,” the teacher smiled, “I bruised my fist, but one of them learned that ‘No’ means ‘no.’” Pausing, she joined in the laugh that fell over the room, and then she added, “That, and how much a trip to the dentist can cost.”

After a few minutes, Click asked David if he wanted to step out to the barn while daylight remained. In response, everyone decided to come along. As it was rather late, Dale walked down to his house to fetch a lantern. Click had already finished dismantling her first skid by the time that he had returned.

“That is so amazing!” The teacher gasped as she watched a handful of nails hover in the air, straightening themselves. Yet, sadly, Click’s image had to vanish once more during this time, so he had to relay her messages once more.

“She says thank you,” he said as the entity began to remove the edges of a collection of planks. Listening for a couple of seconds, he added “But she says that she is nowhere as amazing as you, because she only shapes wood, where you shape minds.”

Once she was through with the small table that she had made, she carved a small, five pointed star. This she affixed to the back of the table, with straightened wire from an old lampshade. When she was done, she carefully ground a slot in table’s surface. She then fashioned placards that fit into this. Onto these, she carved a name, such as Jenny, Ewing, Cathy, or David. The lacquer can opened itself when she had engraved each with a student’s name. Then, globs of the sealant began to smear themselves over the pieces.

“She says that it isn’t much,” the boy relayed as the orb passed slowly over the pieces, “But it is a way to honor the students that do the best in the class.”

“Such as win the Friday game of Challenge?” Cathy gasped in amazement.

“Exactly!” The teacher realized with amazed excitement.

“Well, like I say,” David lamented slightly, “I had better study really hard then. Otherwise, Cathy will win every week!”

“But then, even in trying, you win,” Click’s voice told him.

Once this was finished, everyone agreed to stay and allow Click to work some more, as it had been decided that they would all walk the pretty blond back to her house. However, because dinner was nearing completion, they could not stay that much longer. Therefore, the small alien made a nightstand that the family could sell.

“Tomorrow I am going down to the lumber yard to check into the prices wood,” Grandpa announced.

“And I am going to look into brass knobs and fixtures,” Dale added.

When the nightstand was completed, the teacher fell in love with it. In fact, she bought it, insisting upon paying full price for it. “That will look so very nice next to my bed,” she declared, admiring the small cabinet.

Grandma made stuffed cabbages for dinner, which everyone loved so much that there was very little left after everyone had ate their fill. Then, Miss Thatcher helped David do the dishes. Afterward, they gathered in the front room to relax before walking the teacher home. Of course, it was accepted, the family had no problem with the class coming there the next day to watch the little alien work.

“But, I am thinking that I should use scrap while they are here,” her image mused.

“To teach them to recycle?” Mabel asked thoughtfully.

“Not so much that,” the entity adjusted, “Rather to show them that, through consideration, they can make the most of whatever situation confronts them.” Pausing, she explained, “If I place the emphasis on recycling, I teach them to be good stewards of God’s gift, the Earth. However, I would rather that they learn that as a secondary lesson. The foremost thing that I am wanting to them to take from it is that their minds and creativity have boundless potentials.” Hearing this, the blond woman took on an amazed look.

“I am starting to feel that you should be the teacher,” she laughed.

“Not even hardly!” Click giggled, “God places those whom he will where he will. As a child, you felt the gentle call to teach. I am no one to question your placement in such. Nor, am I one to say that he makes a mistake.”