Shaun Phillips and The Hat of All Hats

I’m a bit shaken up by everything Mrs. Wilson said to me but I help Dad mow the front lawn and then we come back inside for lunch. Mom has sandwiches and salad all set up on the table.

“I have an idea.” Dad says, while scooping pasta salad on to his plate. “What do you say we all take a bike ride after lunch?”

“Oh yes!” Katie bounces up and down in her seat.

“That sounds like fun.” Mom says.

“Can I wear my hat on the bike ride?” I ask. It was worth a try.

“No!” Mom and Dad say at the same time.

I help Mom wash the dishes after lunch and then we all head to the garage and get out our bikes.

“Where are we going to ride to?” Katie asks while putting on her helmet.

“Why don’t we do the whole loop around the neighborhood?” Mom suggests.

So off we go.

“Hey Katie do want to race?” I suggest.

“Okay! I’m going to beat you Shaun!”

“I don’t know.” Dad says. “I bet I can beat both of you!”

Katie, Dad and I all pick up the pace, trying to be the first one to the end of the block. I’m in the lead but Dad is catching up fast.

“Who’s going to be the winner?” Dad asks as he pushes past me.

“That would be me!” Mom shouts. Mom never likes to race us but today she pulls into the lead and claims the win!

“Yeah Mommy!” Katie cheers.

I didn’t see that one coming!

We continue riding, going through the whole neighborhood and back to our street. Just as we get up close to our house, a strange car pulls into the driveway.

“I wonder who that is.” Dad says as he gets off his bike and walks it up to the driveway.

A familiar face gets out of the car.

“Oh hello Mr. Braxton, what brings you to the house?” Dad asks.

“Well I am very sorry to disturb you on the weekend but since yesterday so much has happened and I feel I should share some of this with you. Do you have some time to chat?”

“Why of course.” Mom jumps in. “Please come in and make yourself comfortable in the living room.

Mom and Dad go inside with Mr. Braxton. Katie and I put all the bikes away and then go in and join them.

“Shaun,” Mr. Braxton says. “I know I was a bit harsh at school but please understand that I had to take it very seriously. My phone has been ringing non-stop since yesterday and I have also received several e-mails from parents. Many parents were worried and had harsh things to say. However; there was some good that came from your adventure too.”

“What do you mean by that?” Dad asks.

“I mean that some parents had very nice things to say. One mother told me that her son has never come home from school excited about what he did in class until yesterday. I had a father come to my office to tell me that his son couldn’t stop talking about the ‘field trip’ and how great it was. I would like to read you a few of the e-mails I have received as well, if I may.”

He pulls a piece of paper from his pocket, unfolds it and starts to read aloud.

“Dear Mr. Braxton, I wish we could have been notified ahead of time that the 4th grade was taking a field trip. However, it was a truly positive experience for my daughter. She came home from school with so much enthusiasm. A hands-on approach provides the children with an alternative way to learn and absorb the information. The school should be providing more opportunities like this.”

“Here’s another good one.” He went on. “To the principal, I was never a good student when I was young and I don’t remember much from my history lessons but today my kid came home and told me all about a field trip and about this guy named Ferdinand Magellan. If there were classes like that when I was a kid, I would have done a lot better in school. If you’re doing more of these field trips, I would love to come along as a chaperone.”

“You see Shaun?” Mr. Braxton folds up the paper and smiles at me. “Your imagination and your hat actually helped some of the students learn more and enjoy school much more than they ever have before.”

“That is so wonderful.” Mom says, wiping tears from her eyes. “Oh that is truly wonderful!”

“After you left the school Mrs. Bodeen suggested that your hat would be very useful for the 4th grade curriculum.” Mr. Braxton says. “I know she was joking but how great would that be?”

“That would be excellent!” I say.

“Mr. Braxton the hat would be very good for lessons in Kindergarten too.”

“I bet it would Katie.” He smiles at her and gets up. “Well I have taken up enough of your time. I still have a lot of e-mails to go through and phone calls to return. The Channel 7 reporter has left me several messages and I’ve been avoiding her for as long as I can.”

“How on earth did Channel 7 find out about this anyway? “ Mom asks.

“To be completely honest I haven’t a clue. But it definitely concerns me. Therefore I will be speaking with all of the teachers and school employees this coming week. I’m sure I’ll have more questions for Shaun in the next few days as well.” Mr. Braxton says.

“We certainly understand that.” Dad assures him.

“Mr. Braxton since some of the parents were happy about my presentation, does this mean that I don’t have to stay after school?” It can’t hurt to ask.

“Well I commend you for trying Shaun but your punishment still stands! The teachers will be expecting you after school and you will be staying inside during all recess times. But I tell you what; we can discuss field trips as they come up. How does that sound?”

“That sounds good. Thank you Mr. Braxton.”

“Thank you very much Mr. Braxton.” Mom says.

“Yes, thank you very much.” Dad adds.

“Good bye everyone.” Mr. Braxton waves and walks out the door.

“Hey Dad since my presentation helped a lot of the kids, does this mean that I’m not grounded anymore?”

“Hold on now.” He laughs. “You’re not getting away with it that easy. I agree things turned out better than they could have but you still went against my rules. So as Mr. Braxton put it, your punishment still stands!”

The afternoon goes by very slowly without TV, video games and getting together with my friends. I build with my blocks and even let Katie join me. We build the tallest tower we can. It gets so tall that I actually stand on a chair to put the last few pieces on.

As Mom calls us to dinner, Katie and I smash the whole castle down and put all the blocks away.

“That was fun!” Katie says.

“Yeah, it was.” I agree, following Katie out of my room and down the stairs to dinner.

Katie and I help Mom with the dishes after dinner and cleaning up in the kitchen. With that done, Katie goes into the living room and watches one of her favorite children’s movies. Mom and Dad sit down with her.

Since I’m not allowed to watch TV tonight I just take a shower and get into pajamas. After that’s done I grab some books from my bookshelf and climb on to my bed to do some reading.

There’s a knock on my door.

“Hi Shaun, can I come in for a few minutes?” Mom asks. “It’s been a crazy couple of days and I feel like we need to chat a little more.”

“Sure.” I put the book down.

Mom comes and sits down on the bed next to me.

“First of all,” She says. “I am glad that Mr. Braxton came to talk to us. I was relieved to hear that your adventure at school did some good. Second, I don’t know what Gladys Wilson’s deal is but after this week she qualifies for the ‘most annoying neighbor award.’”

“Qualifies?” I ask. “Mom, she takes home the Gold Medal!”

We both laugh.

“And third but most importantly,” Mom goes on. “I know this hat has brought you a lot of excitement Shaun. Everyone in this family, me included, has gotten a thrill from using it. Yet I admit when your school ended up on the news I got really scared! I worried about every possible thing that could happen.”

“It’s okay Mom. You and Dad told me not to bring the hat to school but I did it anyway. All I wanted to do was to show off in front of my friends and I guess I didn’t really think about would happen next. I understand why you grounded me. I know I probably deserve an award for the best whiner and complainer too!”

She laughs and puts her arms around me. “Shaun your hat is a very special and powerful thing. If you want to keep it, then you need to be very responsible with it; this includes never bringing it to school again. So if you can be responsible, then you can enjoy all the adventures that go with this hat. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

Mom gives me a kiss and gets up to leave the room. As she closes the door behind her I can see my hat hanging on the doorknob. Yup, there are so many adventures to be had and I look forward to each and every one of them.

The End