Parents Day at School

On the morning of November 18, 1980, it was a nice, warm, sunny day. At the Weiser Junior High School, the principal, Jim Reed, was putting up a sign, more like a banner, that read:

Welcome parents to the Weiser Junior High School for The Day.

He got down off the ladder and started admiring it until Mrs. Lum came out to talk to him.

“Mr. Reed, are you alright?” she questioned.

“Sure, I’m alright. I think.” He answered.

Just then, a purplish, glittery car pulled up. A boy got out; then a lady got out, too. The boy looked like he was about thirteen years old, and the mom looked like she was somewhere in her forties. Jim Reed walked up to them.

“Welcome to what?” the lady questioned.

“To parent’s day”, Mrs. Lum said, as she walked toward them. “Oh yeah, I forgot. All right, hello, I’m Mrs. Frederick Denser.”

The lady said after looking very pale and puzzled. “Hello. I’m the Principal, Jim Reed, and this is the art teacher, Mrs. Lum”.

After shaking hands, Mr. Reed escorted them in. Mrs. Lum, still outside standing in the same spot, noticed a piece of paper on the ground. Walking over to it, she said, “My gosh, if people don’t clean up after themselves, our school will look like a junk pile. And for Parents Day...” She picked it up and looked at it. There was writing on it that said, “Dear Bill, I love you very much, but if Rachelle don’t stop flirting with you, and you taking it willingly, I will just sit and cry and won’t love you anymore. Love, Kathy Larajob. Mrs. Lum smiled and walked inside. Approaching the door, she saw Mr. Reed with the same boy and lady. She walked in just as another car drove up. And another. And another. And another.

Jim said, “Boy, look at ‘em come.”

“Yeah, I can see”, Mrs. Denser said. After saying that she plopped a piece of Hubba-Bubba bubble gum in her mouth.

“We don’t allow gum in the building,” Jim said.

“Oh, OK”, Mrs. Denser said while taking it out and putting it on her nose, and walking off.

“See you a little later,” Mrs. Denser yelled from the other end of the hall.

“OK,” Mr. Reed said as he looked outside. “Wowsers,” he continued, “Look at ‘em come in.”

Mrs. Lum walked off to her room. As she walked in, she saw Mr. Foy.

“Um, there is something I need to talk about with you,” Mr. Foy said.

“Oh, if you insist,” she responded as she sat down. “What is it?”

“Oh, it’s just that the other day, Billy Tyler, you know the boy in rags, and has a voice like a rag? Well, he came into my room, and I wasn’t there. When I walked in, I caught him breaking into my desk,” Mr Foy said.

Just then, the bell rang.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Mr. Foy said.

“OK”, she said.

As Mr. Foy was leaving, he was trampled by a wild herd of kids and their mothers.
“Excuse me”, Mr. Foy said.

“Excuse accepted”, said a mother being pulled to a desk by her child. Then they all got in and sat down just as the bell rang. All the teachers were in their rooms, and everybody was in their classes. All except Billy Tyler and his mom and dad.

“Come on, Billy”, his mother said, pleading to her son again.

“OK, I’m coming. Just let me get my science book out of my clean locker”, said Billy.

“Clean?” said his father. “Bill, why don’t you just clean your locker before school at about eight-thirty am? Is that too much to ask? Think of it as a Christmas present to your teachers, Principal, student council, and your locker.” His mother said.

“Is there something wrong?” Mr. Reed said, walking up to them.

“I can’t get this blasted book out,” said Billy.

“Why don’t you clean you’re locker before school at eight- thirty am?” Mr. Reed questioned.

“Ha, my mom just asked me the same question”, Billy- answered.

“Why don’t you want a change?” all three of them asked at the same time.

“Just stop bugging,” Billy said.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” his mom scolded. Then, they all started yelling at Billy. All the teachers came out to see what the problem was. All the mothers and fathers and kids came out, too. And all of them started yelling and screaming at each other.

In one minute and twenty seconds, there was a riot, and everyone within three blocks came to the school. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Jim Reed stood up and started yelling, “People, people, come on now. It’s Parents Day. Stop it, or I will call the police and arrest you all”.

Then, they all stopped and looked at the innocent children. “Alright”
“I agree”
“OK”

They all started saying.

“OK, now let’s go on to our fourth-period class and resume it starting over”, Mr. Reed said.

After forty minutes were up, the bell rang again to go to lunch. They all got in the lunchroom with their lunches, sat down, and started eating when Mrs. Denser stood and yelled, “FOOD FIGHT!, as she threw a cheeseburger at Mr. Mooney, which hit him in the back of his head. Then Mrs. Grunke threw a burrito at Mr. Brennen and hit him between the eyes as she yelled

“Hooray. Bullseye!”

Mr. Squibb stood up and squished a plate full of salad on Mr. Johnson’s face. Mrs. Denser started throwing chicken fingers and bombing Mr. Fife.

“STOP IT!” Mr. Fife yelled. Mrs. Grunke threw tater tots at Mr. Merrell. Mr. Squibb threw a handful of French fries at Mr. Benzie. Mrs. Denser pulled up Mrs. Tyler, and she started throwing smokies at Mr. Kerfoot, Mrs. Leed, and Mrs. Kleppin. Mr. Kelly stood up and got hit by a hamburger.

In three minutes, the lunchroom was a food basket. Then, Mr. Reed called the cops, and the cops came and arrested them all.

“That was fun,” said all of the teachers, drenched and soaked in food.

“Wow. What a mess”, Mr. Warta said. Then, he cleaned it up in three weeks.

THE END

-Scott Wells

2nd Grade / 1978

8 years old