On Growing Up (Continued).
We stood in the January wind in a diverse group on the damp sidewalk, shivering and wishing for at least a sweater. I think we were all a little scared. I know that I was. But it was also exciting, What if the school burned down? I had never been in a building where their was a fire involved...
Merry stood next to me in line, and she looked paler than ever. I was afraid she was going to collapse.I took her nearest hand. It was pallid, limp and unprotesting. I held it strongly to support her and focused my attention on the action around the school doors.
All the doors - auditorium, kindergarten entrance, inner/outer doors, gymnasium - were wide open to the outside. But where were the teachers? Where were the flames? And the source of the fire?
My attention was caught by a thin trail of sour-smelling smoke drifting slowly out of the wide-open gym doors. I wondered if that was the source of the fire. I didn't see any flames anywhere...
Some of the bigger kids on our section of the sidewalk beg an to get restless and jokingly accused each other of pulling the fire alarm. I heard a knot of the eldest talking about cutting school for the rest of the day and going to the local hangout for sodas.
"You wanna get picked up for truancy?" I heard one girl ask.
"Oh, Dianne - grow UP. Old Lady Hatchet's already taken attendance. She won't take it again today. She'll never MISS us."
Another girl who was standing closer to me was apparently with the Science Fair.. I heard her murmur, "I hope my exhibit doesn't burn down."
I was beginning to dislike the continual wailing of the siren. It grated on my ears.
There was a flurry of activity by the gymnasium doors, and the new principal, wringing her hands and looking distracted, stepped out on the porch.
Now this ought to be good for a laugh. The new principal had been installed in September and she was always distracted. She was always nervous and hysterical.
The fire truck came bumping around the corner. Someone had turned on the fire hydrant and it gushed in a cold, steady stream. As the firemen paused to hook up their hoses, the principal began screaming, "Come ON!"
One fireman said something I couldn't hear over the sudden hum of activity. But I heard the pincipal's next scream. "There's a FIRE in here, damnit! Come ON!" She raced back into the building.
We were all laughing now. Typical principal! I heard later she passed out in the hallway. I didn't daoubt it one bit.
(To be continued.)
