Free In a Class of His Own by Georgia Hill

you’re not in trouble.” I
reassured her. “I’ve
asked you in here because I’ve something to tell you.” I took a
breath. “It’s something sad I’m afraid.”
    The
child’s eyes widened even further and she began to look tearful. I
hurried on.
“Everyone at home is absolutely fine.” I kept my voice low and
calm. “They’re all safe and well.” I paused momentarily. This
was proving to be much harder than I thought. “But little Fluffy,
well she …” I stopped. I took another deep breath and reached for
a tissue, although I wasn’t sure for whom. The familiar insistent
beat of a headache was beginning, just behind my eyes.
    “You
see Sadie, sometimes when animals as little as Fluffy come into
school they find it very noisy and frightening.”
    Sadie nodded her head
vigorously, her curls bouncing. “I did when I started with Miss
Leigh. When I was little.”
    I nodded too, in
response. “Exactly,” I smiled gently. “Well Fluffy found it so
frightening and noisy in school today that I’m afraid she’s
died.”
    Sadie sat absolutely
still, staring at me with enormous blue eyes. I waited for the floods
of tears but none came and I was impressed by her self-control.
    “Do
you understand Sadie, that Fluffy is dead?” I repeated, feeling
thoroughly cruel but needing to make sure that the girl understood
what had happened. The stress headache increased its intensity.
    Eventually,
after what seemed an age, Sadie spoke again. “Does that mean I
can’t do ‘Show and Tell’?”
Now she pouted a little and her lower lip began to tremble.
    “Well,
perhaps you can do it another time.” I frowned and thought rapidly.
“Have you got another hobby you’d like to talk about?” I
suggested, as gently as I could.
    “I
want to do ‘Show and Tell’.” Sadie stamped her little foot and
scowled angrily, her lower lip jutting out at a furious angle. “Mrs.
Cartwright promised I could.”
    “But
wouldn’t you like to prepare another talk about something else?”
I offered slightly desperately.
    “I
want to do ‘Show and Tell’ today - about Fluffy!” Sadie’s
foot again made contact with the carpet with a decided thump. “Miss
promised.”
    The trembling lips
drooped and Sadie’s eyes began to fill with tears. She gave an
enormous sniff. Was this what was upsetting the child, the fact that
she could no longer do her ‘Show and Tell’ and not the death of
her pet?
    I came
to my decision. “Very well.” I nodded slowly and suppressed
a grin.
    Thankfully the offending
rodent had been boxed up out of sight but its cage was still in the
office. With a twist of my lips as to what Helen was going to say
about there being a ‘Show and Tell’ about a deceased hamster, I
gathered up its cage and led Sadie back to the class. She seemed much
happier now she was allowed to do her talk.
    “We
get Golden Points if we do ‘Show and Tell’. And then we get
‘Choosing’ if we get enough. I want to do ‘Choosing’ so I can
go on the computer with Nina.” She chatted happily up at me, her
curls bouncing wildly.
    After a hurried
explanation to a stunned Helen, I left them to it. As I walked back
down the corridor I could see Sadie proudly displaying the empty cage
and heard the words, “My hamster’s just died…”
    At the end of the school
day Sadie came rushing up to me in the playground to announce that
her step-dad had promised to buy her two pet rats for Christmas and
that she couldn’t wait and that they were much more interesting
than hamsters any day ...
    I
collapsed in the staff room with a cup of tea and an aspirin and
tried not to think about the mountain of work I still hadn’t done.
Jack came in, closely followed by Mona.
    “Nicky,
do you know anything about that strange smell in my office? Have they
been spraying the fields again?” He wrinkled his arrogant profile
in a grimace. “God, it’s really strong this time. What on Earth
do these farmers use?” He went to fill the kettle