Trouble in Fifth Grade
48
Trouble in Fifth Grade
48eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781728301228 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 03/15/2019 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 48 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
| Age Range: | 9 - 12 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Trouble in Fifth Grade
I am an invisible child. Nothing ever happens to me that makes me stand out or puts me in the limelight. I'm not complaining but sometimes I think of things that could put me somewhere other than where I am at the moment. My Mother says that I have a challenging mind that I should use for good rather than trouble. I'm not sure I agree with her anymore because being good has made me invisible.
For example, I've thought of running away. I mean just skipping out of school for a little bit and then coming back. I doubt that anyone would notice because I am that child no one notices. I thought that I would try it to see if it could be done. I pretended to take the flag down about half-hour before the day ended. I walked right out the door and no one stopped me. I walked right down the side walk and turned right heading west. I kept on walking and it felt like I was not only invisible but totally grown up and independent as well.
Two blocks from the school is a gas station that sells candy. I walked in and bought a roll of lifesavers. I thanked the attendant and started walking slowly back up the hill to school. As I enjoyed the first cherry lifesaver I pondered how to return to class without disturbing the teacher so I wouldn't be given a dreaded detention. Staying after school was less appealing than staying the full day in school. As I walked, I noticed that the familiar car passing me was driven by my father. I was glad that he was focused on the road and not on pedestrians. I'd have to think fast to find an excuse that he would believe for being a block away from the school when I was supposed to be in class learning about reading, writing, and arithmetic. Maybe I could come up with some silly lesson about map making!
I stopped by the flag and pulled it down. I carefully folded it to avoid returning to class. I enjoyed a yellow lifesaver and walked back towards the building. I opened the door and walked right back into class. I'd been gone for about 35 minutes and no one noticed. I'm not sure if I was glad or a little disappointed because it made me feel like no one really cared. Oh well, it just opened the door of my mind for the second adventure.
The next day, I went opposite from the gas stations. I didn't want to see my father again just in case he was on that road. I walked about two blocks and saw a familiar rather large dog named Sam, who just happened to be out in the front yard. Most often he is in back and I can hear him barking through the fence. There is a hole where he sticks his head out and sounds ferocious.
Today he looks ferocious too! I start to run and so does he thinking that the game of chase is on. I think my good luck has run out and I'm scared of Sam. He chases and jumps on my back making me fall to the ground. I hear his owner calling him home and he takes off. I skinned my knee and limp back to school. My second day of adventures didn't go that well. Note to self-don't go that way anymore. I retrieve the flag and walk into the building. I clean the blood from my knee and return to class. Everything seems normal until the Principal comes walking around the corner. He asks about my knee and believes I fell when taking down the flag. He is nice to me as he puts a bandage on my knee.
My third adventure took me north instead of east. I left at exactly the same time but walked past the flagpole towards the other school building across the street. We are a parochial school with a public school across the street. The street between is a two lane road with quite a bit of traffic to make sure that the students never get together. I waited patiently for the road to clear and cross it. I sit down by a big old tree on the hillside in the football bowl. It was quiet and kind of eerie sitting there all by myself.
I was still surprised that I was here and no one was looking for me when I saw someone staring at me from across the field. It was someone my age. I gave a little head-nod to indicate that I was cool. It worked and there was a head-nod back at me. At this age, you wonder what to do next but I just sat there looking at the sky; wondering where the clouds go and if they just circle the planet or actually end up someplace. In the distance I heard a bell ring and knew immediately that I was heading for trouble. I ran across the street and across to the flag pole where I took it down as fast as I could. I ran into class too fast because everyone was looking at me. I breathlessly said that the flag was stuck and I had trouble getting it down. Too bad that lie was so believable because no one questioned any further. I had help folding the flag and began to think about tomorrow.
My fourth adventure was the best of all because I took a friend with me. I'd told my best friend about my excursions and she wanted to join me so I lied and said that the flag being stuck made someone to help a necessity. The teacher just nodded and let the two of us walk right out of class and earlier than the last two days. We had 45 minutes of freedom! It felt grown-up and like we were on our own.
Being curious about the school across the street, we went north and crossed the two-lane highway. It wasn't as scary so we walked with purpose and looked like we knew exactly where we were going. I showed her where I sat the day before and she said that we should keep on walking. We crossed that field and went up the steps right into the public-school building.
Now this was probably the most exciting thing I'd ever done. I was amazed at how bold my friend really was. She lived on a farm and I thought the cows scared her so how could she be walking into the school, the public school, like she belonged?
We heard the voices of teachers in classrooms with their doors open. We head the voices of students answering questions and the sound of dry erase markers squeaking on the boards. There was the soft hum of technology; the one you hear but don't acknowledge because it is white noise in the background of our everyday life. We walked down the hall past about 12 classrooms on each side. I saw the library and wanted to go in to look at the books we weren't allowed to read. I saw a counselor's office and was tempted to poke my head in and introduce us as new transfer students. My friend thought that was too dangerous. I saw the girl's bathroom and of course we had to check it out. It looked a lot like the ones we had in our building. Finally we were at the end of the hall knowing that it was time to leave. We had to walk past the office which made me really nervous but we pretended we knew where we were going. No one noticed us and I was beginning to feel safe.
We went out the doors and back to the field where we collapsed in laughter. We'd done it and it was the best moment ever. We laid there for several minutes with eyes closed soaking in the heat from the sun above. Suddenly there was a shadow that crossed over us. Slowly we opened our eyes towards each other. As we looked up, we saw the face of our angry principal staring down at us. I think we were just caught doing the most exciting thing we'd ever done!
Slowly we marched back across the field and across the lot towards the flag pole. We silently took down the flag and folded it neatly. We were told to meet the principal in the office at the end of the day which was quickly approaching. We didn't speak because we both knew our fate. The principal was going to call our parents and we were going to serve detention. I knew I should feel guilty, but I didn't because I'd finally had someone notice me. It was almost a victory for me but trouble for my friend. She'd blame me and I knew it. My weekends at the farm were going to be very limited for a very long time.
I survived the lecture from the principal, the yelling from my parents, the disgust from the teacher, and the dreaded detention after school. It wasn't so bad because as long as I have my mind, I can be anywhere else in a matter of minutes without ever leaving the room. I thought about the next adventure with hopes to make it even better than this one. There is something about being on your own that is appealing to a child like me.
For a while, everyone was watching me so that I couldn't sneak out of the building. They knew about the one day but had no idea that there had been three other adventures. I kept quiet as I had no need to brag. That would most certainly make everyone want to tag along. I knew the day would come where I could get myself out of class again and didn't feel like company would do anything for me except cause trouble. I'd wait and when the cold weather came no one else wanted to go get the flag.
For several weeks, I stayed close to school. I spent time making snow angels, throwing snowballs, and cleaning snow off the steps at the church when out to get the flag.
Only once did I go into the church basement to use the bathroom. I admit that I also looked around a little bit because I was nosy. I thought maybe if I did the right thing people would trust me again. But the desire to wander came back once the weather became a little warmer and I began to plan my next adventure.
I'd heard that behind the boiler in the church basement, there was a tunnel that connected the two buildings. I thought that it might be the ultimate test of my abilities to find the connection in the basement of the school. Of course, you know that my next few excursions took me down the stairs and into the basement of the school. I looked in the music room, the kindergarten room, the kitchen, and the boiler room. It was when I went into the storage room that I saw the small door on the wall. I knew at once that it was the one that would take me to the church basement. It was time to make my plan and decide if friends would be allowed to go along.
Well, the girls didn't want to because it might be dark, dirty, and scary in a tunnel. I said that was what would make it fun. The boys didn't want to waste time going through a tunnel when they already knew where the beginning and end were located. They said that I had ruined the adventure by finding the door in the school basement. Finally, the pastor's son said that he would go along. He was one of my best friends because we looked a lot alike and people made fun of us calling us twins. My cousin said he would go too. I think he was trying to protect me from whatever evil might lurk in the tunnel. I didn't like the idea of two boys going but it was better than being alone. There had been some scary talk about the devil himself living in that tunnel and looking for the souls of children who dared to take the path of least resistance between heaven and hell. Some of the girls said that I was on the way to hell anyway so this shouldn't scare me.
The plan was set. The three of us were going to meet after dismissal and sneak into the school basement. It was the preacher's son who would check that the door on the other side wasn't locked or blocked. The parsonage was connected to the church so getting down there was easy for him. I had offered to come by and help but he didn't think it was a good idea for us to be seen together before sneaking into the tunnel. I thought that was carrying secrecy too far.
We met as planned and waited until all teachers were gone from the lounge located across the hall from the steps leading to the basement. We quietly walked down the steps and into the storage room. I was glad, but wondered why a storage room door wasn't locked to keep kids like us out of it. I guess being in a parochial school made everyone think they could trust everyone else. We went in and opened the tunnel door.
I was the first to go in and had brought a flashlight from home to light the way. Boys are still stupid; they didn't think of that! They followed. It was a long straight hall made of cinder blocks. There weren't too many spider webs, it wasn't too dirty, and it didn't smell all that bad. We made our way all the way to the other end only to find out that the tunnel door was indeed blocked. The preacher's son insisted that he had done his job the night before. I wasn't sure about that but was pretty mad that our plan had failed and we now faced the journey back to the other end. We'd made it all the way to the church which was really only about 100 feet away. Now we had to turn around and start moving back in only direction we could go; back to where we started. I knew I should feel glad that we made it but still felt somewhat mad that we couldn't finish our journey in the church basement like planned. It just didn't seem right that we had to go back to where anyone could see us leaving the building. I didn't like it at all.
Then I heard it, the familiar cough of the man who smoked a pipe at every recess break; the man who stood in the window watching us on the playground even in winter while he was inside in the warm office. This was the same man who found me and my friend at the football field across the street. I knew the principal knew that we were in the tunnel. I also knew that the end of this adventure couldn't be good. The tunnel became very dark as the door was closed and my mind went to dry bones found fifty years from now. We were going to die all because I couldn't keep my curiosity in check. My friends were dead before they even knew how to be men and I'd die before my very first kiss. This was dismal and I felt sick to my stomach. It was dark and my little flashlight was the only light keeping us moving forward. I heard the sound of footsteps moving away from the door and the creak of the storage room door moving on its hinges. We waited until the only thing left to do was slowly push the tunnel door open and face whatever was on the other side. It was my plan so of course, the boys pushed me forward first!
I opened the door and looked towards the next door. The coast was clear so we left the tunnel behind closing and latching the door. We moved together towards the next obstacle and listened carefully for any sound that might indicate the presence of the principal. Hearing nothing, we widened the crack in the door and made our way into the hall towards the basement door leading outside to a parking lot. We left the building and stayed close to the walls so the principal couldn't see us below. We made our way to the parsonage and into the kitchen where we quickly got a snack. The cookies were good but the silence between us was spooky as we usually had so much to say to each other.
The boys decided to play football out on the playground and left me alone. I knew that I wasn't welcome to join in and had no choice but to go home. Our friendship was forever changed and not in a good way. As I walked away from school, across the field that led to the highway I thought of my adventures during fifth grade. School would come to a close in a few weeks and I wondered how I would spend my summer. I glanced back at the building and there in the window was the principal. He gave a slight head nod to make sure I knew he was cool and I gave one back in response. He knew and so did I that my trouble in fifth grade was coming to an end and sixth grade would be much better.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Trouble In Fifth Grade"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Patty Cornell and Joann Benzinger.
Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.