Miss Shumly sat down and a few minutes later they started to gather outside the door. The same ones showed up early every morning and were peering through the window. Once they had seen that she was already there they started to talk amougst themselves. Ten minutes later the quite talking had turned into a dull roar. Miss Shumly got up and opened the door. After they had taken their seats miss Shumly closed the door and held up her hand. A few attention getting slaps the children gave each other and the hissing and the room went quiet.
"Ok I told you this was coming so I hope you are prepared?" Take out a pencil and paper. They all did precisely what they were told and three hands went up into the air. Miss Shumly rumbled around the room as she spoke and dropped a brand new sharpened pencil or paper on the students desks that had their hands up. The test wasn't hard at all and she had confidents in her class. after they had started, she walked over to the closet. It had a heavy duty solid wood door with a deadbolt. She opened the closet and it was full from top to bottom with everything her students could possible need. she put back the few pencils and papers and closed the door.
After they finished they all sat quietly and read their brand new books until the others where done. Miss Shumly didn't put time limits on her tests because she wanted every child to learn, not just the fast ones. Two of the boys snickered in the back but quieted down when they realized they had been louder then they should have. finally the last child put down his pencil and got up and collected all the tests and brought them up to her desk. Sean was always the last one so he always collected and turned in.
She handed him a lemon drop which he shoved into his mouth. Sometimes she wondered if he waited for the others to finish so he would get the lemon drop. Sean returned to his seat and picked up his copy of A Tale of Two Cities and began to read. "Ten Minutes." Miss Shumly said. later on "five Minutes."
"Books down." and they all complied. She taught math for a while then had someone collect the books and put them in to corner while she wrote problems on the board. When she finished she went to the closet and took out some more paper and two people raised their hands and she gave them each a sheet. The children raised their hands as they needed help and she went from person to person until she had attended to all of their needs.
After they had finished math they all lined up at the closet and she passed out cleaning supplies and all the children worked together at their assigned tasks which changed weekly. The children no longer went outside to play because of the dangers so she had started letting them clean the classroom to get them some exercise. The children finished an returned the cleaning supplies to Miss Shumly until the closet was full again.
Then Miss Shumly reached into her closet and brought out one paper bag that lined the top shelf and handed it to Chance. His parents were suppose to fill out his meal paperwork but hadn't done it yet. All though she had tried to call several times she hadn't got an answer. The children lined up and she marched them out into the hallway and locked her door behind her. The lunchroom was loud but Miss Shumly didn't mind as long as the children stayed seated until they were finished and then they could take their tray up and sit back down. Most of the children had the free lunch cards in her class and it didn't take them anywhere near the allotted twenty minutes to finish their lunch.
From then on out the children would feel a lot better now that they had something in their stomachs.
The second part of the day went by without a hitch and before she knew it the bell was ringing. The children all said goodbye except seven of them. She went to the closet and six of he children lined up and she gave them each a paper sack. the first one who got the sack said her goodbyes and left but the rest stayed. They stuck by her side and held the door open for her when they needed too. she locked everything up and proceeded out the back teachers door with all the children in tow.
Out in the parking lot was a beat up 15 passenger van. She slid open the door and they kids shuffled in and put on their seat belts. It was safer for them to walk in the mornings then in the afternoon so she just preferred to give them a ride. She had started out with a compact but that didn't work as the number of children who had trouble walking home had escalated.
The traffic had been pretty bad so she dropped the last child off and got home about an hour later. She hadn't ran out of any supplies this week so she got to skip the shopping trip. She walked up a flight of stairs and unlocked the door to her apartment. She flipped a switch and a single bare bulb lit the tiny apartment. she went to her cabinet and pulled a loaf of bread off her shelf along with the peanut butter and jelly. She made ten sandwiches and put nine of them into sacks. she got out nine bags and put a hand full of potato chips from a plain white label bag. then she opened her fridge and took out 10 apples. She packed the nine paper sacks into a empty box so she could carry them tomorrow. Then she slid them into the empty shelf on her fridge.
Miss Shumly went to her rickety table and single chair and ate her p and j and washed it down with bottled water. She went over to the window and sat down at the folding chair and table that she called her desk and started grading papers. When she was done she turned the tiny old fashioned TV on and went to her small closet. there in the closet was eight hangers three had cloths on them and one had here sweats and a tee shirt. She took off her pants suit and put it in a bag, then changed for the night. She turned off the light and laid down on the air mattress in the middle of the floor. It was 10 o'clock when she turned off the TV and drank the last of her water.
She took one last look around the sparse apartment and thought if her supplies held out until summer she would be able to work another job and maybe she would be able to get a few things for herself but then she thought of the children being on their own for the summer and a chill ran down her back.
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