Chapter 20: Skool Daze

Margaret Erin checked for traffic and we all walked across the parking lot to the school’s front door. I opened it and Erin and her girls entered, followed by Lynn and hers. Blossom went next and then waited for me, reaching out for my hand.

There was a big sign in the lobby pointing to the left for new student registration. We took the hallway to the left and found a big sign on a door that said, “New Student Registration”. I looked at the family.

“Well, this must be the place.”

“Open the door, Daddy!” Genevieve Lynn said, giving away her excitement.

“Yes, my little love,” I answered.

I turned the door handle and pulled the door open. Everyone filed into the large room. There were several tables set up with large letters suspended from the ceiling above them. Erin led the way to the table with the large letter “O” above it. The lady sitting there was a bit taken aback by the tall, large-breasted, blonde approaching with three blonde children behind her. Her expression increased when Lynn followed along with her two red-headed girls.

“Good morning! Who do we have here?” Her tone was warm and friendly and I certainly felt a bit better.

“Good morning,” Erin answered. “We are the O’Dells and we’ve come to register our children for school.”

“I’ve got all the forms with me,” Lynn said stepping to the front and opening her folder.

The lady now looked puzzled.

“Are you all O’Dells?”

“Yes, we are.”

“Cousins?”

“Sisters. Paul?” Lynn waved me to come forward. “This is Paul O’Dell. He is the father of the girls and our husband. Inside this folder you will find a copy of our contract of a civil union and the birth certificates of each of the girls. The two redheads are mine and the three blondes are Erin’s.”

The lady looked up at Erin, and her immense breasts, and then at Lynn and me. Then she looked at Blossom.

“Hello, I’m Blossom O’Dell. I’m the third member of the union. I’ve been home schooling all of our children for the past four years. I think that you will find them to be ready to attend your school.”

“Margaret Erin is the eldest,” Erin added. “She is six years old. We were going to start her last year but we were victims of a home invasion and her twin sister was shot and killed. On advice of children’s services we kept her home for an extra year. The twins here, Penelope and Paula are both five.”

“As are Genevieve and Erin, my twins,” Lynn added when Erin was done. “The rest of the children will begin school when each reaches five years old.”

“The rest?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Erin added. “We currently have seventeen children all twins, except that I have a set of triplets.”

“Triplets!?” The poor lady seemed to be getting weak.

“I know. It is quite the miracle. As a matter of fact Lynn and I are pregnant again.”

The lady almost fainted. Her arms fell still on the table top and she began to blink quickly. Blossom was about to check her out when a voice called.

“The O’Dells! I was wondering if I was going to see you this week,” the young woman said as she walked out of an office to our left. “I’m Mrs. Joan Crawford, Principal here at the Sunset School. Margaret Williams alerted me to your potential visit.”

We all shook her hands, she included the children, and then she addressed the lady sitting, agog, at the table.

“Mrs. Shipman, please process these children as you would any others,” she turned to the girls and asked, “You must be Margaret, the eldest. You will be in first grade to start with. Would you twins like to be in the same class or with different teachers. What would you like?”

Penelope spoke up right away.

“We talked about this last night, Mrs. Crawford, and I’d like to be in the same class as Genevieve and Erin would like to be in the same class with Paula. That way the teacher won’t have to be confused with exact twins in the class.”

“You talked about it? That’s very good. Mrs. Shipman, you have your orders. I think that you’ll find this family to be more unique than you realize,” the Principal turned from the table and looked at Lynn and Erin. “Mrs. Williams assures me that these children are going to amaze all of us. We shall see.”

With that she gave us a smile that I thought was rather plastic and she returned to her office. We finished our registration and were given, the school’s code of conduct, the yearly calendar showing the off days and noting that this year kindergarten was a whole day instead of a half day, and a list of teachers and their email addresses. We were also given several copies of a map of the school. It was a single floor building that had several arms fanning out from a central hub. The rooms for the girls had been circled on their maps and we split up.

Erin took Paula and Erin, Lynn took Penelope and Genevieve, and Blossom and I took Margaret Erin. We all walked to the central hub and then split up.

“What room are you in?” Lynn asked Erin.

“We’re in B 103,” Erin replied.

“We’re in B 106, so it should be just down the hall from you.”

Erin and Lynn led their sets of children down the hallway only a short distance before they came to room B 103.

“Well, Paula Erin, Erin Lynn, are you ready?”

“Yes, Erin Mom.” “Yes Mother.”

“Here we go, Lynn I’ll see you back at the hub.”

“OK, Sweetie.”

Lynn, Penelope Erin, and Genevieve Lynn continued their walk down the hallway as Erin reached for the classroom door handle and turned it. She walked in first with the girls following. The teacher, a young, slender, blonde was in the back of the classroom watching as the children were all gathered around watching a big TV. The young woman came walking quickly toward them.

“Hello, may I help you?”

“Hello, I’m Erin O’Dell and these are my daughters Paula and Erin. We just registered them for school.”

“OK. Which one is which?”

“Paula is the blond and Erin is the redhead.”

“Hello young ladies. I am Miss Clevenger. Are you both five years old?”

“Yes ma’am,” Paula answered.

“Let’s find you two a place with the group and I’ll go back to the class. Thank you, Mrs. O’Dell.”

The teacher took each of the girls by the hand and walked them away into the classroom and towards a group of children watching a TV.

Erin stood there and watched as the girls were seated in front of the TV. The teacher left them and looked to see Erin still standing at the door.

“Was there something else?”

“No I guess not. I was expecting some sort of greeting or welcome and a small explanation of what your class was all about.”

“I’m sorry for that. The class has just started their orientation video and I really need to be there as there are portions that I need to pause the video and explain. As to what we do, you can get all that information from the office. Excuse me, I need to get back to the class.”

With those words, Miss Clevenger opened the classroom door, ushered Erin into the hallway, and closed the door.

Lynn found room B 106 and looked back to see the room Erin had just entered finish closing. She grabbed the door handle to room B 106 and opened it. She, Genevieve Lynn, and Penelope Erin entered the room. They stopped just inside the door and saw the children in the class sitting on the floor around an elevated TV screen.

Their presence was not noticed by the teacher until Lynn coughed loudly. The woman who was apparently the teacher jumped having been startled by the sound of the cough. She quickly paused the video on the TV and walked away from the class and towards Lynn and the girls.

“May I help you?”

“Yes. I’m Mrs. Lynn O’Dell and these are my daughters Genevieve and Penelope. We just enrolled them in this school.”

“Oh, really? Just a moment.”

The woman walked to her desk and pressed a button on her desktop computer. She moused around and then looked up.

“Here you are. Yes you are in the correct classroom. Just leave the children here and I’ll take care of them.”

Lynn looked at the woman with an expression that had melted a few CEO’s over the years.

“Excuse me. Do I understand that you wish me to exit this room and leave my children in the care of a woman whose name I don’t even know? You assume that I care so little for my children that I would do that?”

The teacher looked at Lynn with an expression that sent the message, “How dare you question me?” She stood as tall as she could and looked Lynn in the eyes.

“I ... am Mrs. Gabriel. I teach this kindergarten class.”

“Well that’s good to know,” Lynn replied, not intimidated in the least. She looked at her list of teachers and saw two Gabriel’s. “Which Mrs. Gabriel are you?”

The woman actually rolled her eyes at Lynn before answering in an exasperated tone, “Elaine! Now please excuse me, I have a class to teach.”

She tried to take Genevieve and Penelope’s hands but the girls pulled back from her.

“Now see here, children. I must have you come with me.”

“Mother?” Genevieve looked at Lynn for permission.

Lynn paused for a moment and then looked at Mrs. Elaine Gabriel.

“Go ahead girls. I’ll speak with your teacher after school this afternoon.”

The girls reached out and each too a hand of the teacher. The three walked to the group watching the TV. Lynn watched as the teacher sat the girls in the group, without introduction, and then started the video again.

Lynn walked out of the room and turned to see a not too happy Erin standing outside the door to the other classroom.

Margaret Erin, Blossom, and I walked down the hall to the central hub and then took the hallway down the wing marked “C”. We found room “C 113” and opened the door. Inside, the classroom was bright and had about eighteen children sitting at desks. The teacher was standing at the front of the classroom and turned to greet us.

“Hello?”

“Hello. We are the O’Dells and this is Margaret Erin our daughter. We just registered and were told to come here.”

“Wonderful! I’m Miss Englehart. Let me check something here.”

She walked to her desk and move her computer mouse around on her desk, clicked it a couple of times and then looked back at us.

“Here you are! Hello Margaret Erin O’Dell. Do you have a nick name or do you prefer Margaret or Margaret Erin?”

“I prefer Margaret Erin if that’s alright,” our little girl answered respectfully.

“That’s just fine,” she said as she turned to the class and spoke. “Class this is Margaret Erin O’Dell. She likes to be called Margaret Erin and she will be sitting in seat 19. Clarissa would you please come here and show Margaret Erin to her desk?”

“Yes ma’am,” a little brown haired girl said. She came to the front and introduced herself to Margaret Erin with a big smile.

“I’m Clarissa Smart. I’m in seat 18. Come this way.”

The girl turned and walked towards the side of the room furthest from the door and showed Margaret Erin to a seat just behind her own. The girl didn’t speak, she just led her to the desk behind where she was sitting. Margaret Erin opened her small back pack and took out a pen and a pad of paper after taking her seat.

“That’s all there is to it. She will see you outside at the end of the day,” Miss Englehart said as she led us to the door.

“Thank you, Miss Englehart,” Blossom said. “We’ll want to talk to you one on one as soon as possible. Margaret Erin has an interesting history.”

“Yes, I’m sure she does,” the teacher said as if it didn’t matter.

I looked at Blossom and was about to have words with Miss Englehart when Blossom took hold of my arm. She led us to the door, well perhaps herded or driven would be more apropos. At any rate in seconds Miss Englehart had us out of the room and closed the door.

Blossom looked at me and said, “Paul, I’m sure every parent tells her that their little darling is special somehow.”

“Except in this case ours is.”

“I know but first let’s see if the other teachers were as condescending to Erin and Lynn. If they are, then we need to all talk and then meet with the teachers. I have no problem continuing their education.”

We followed the map back to the central hub and waited for Erin and Lynn.