Science Fiction for Young Readers, grade 4 up
Story by Terry Gibson ©

     "Are you all right?" Mr. Player begged.
Tab just lay there, stunned.  "Please 
Tabitha?  Tell me!"
     "Step back.  You've done quite enough,"
the principal said.
     "He dropped her," Maria whimpered. 
"I can't believe he dropped her."
     "More like he flung her down!  And 
rightly so--"  Ms. Tempest had recovered 
her senses.
     "I don't believe any of this--" Mr. 
Player started to say, but Mrs. Meander 
cut him off.
     "Out," she ordered.  "Everybody out."


     In the schoolyard the news travelled 
fast when no one remembered to ring the 
bell.  They all said Tabitha Gray had 
conned the teacher into thinking she was 
sick so she could get him to carry her.  
"And she HUGGED him all the way!"
     "She pushed her face right into his, 
did ya see it?"
     "Wonder if she gave him a hickey?"
     "Oo-oo-oo how simply AWFUL!" the 
older girls squealed, hunching their 
shoulders and hugging themselves.  The 
kids could hardly wait to go home and 
tell their parents a very exciting story.
                         

     When Maria went out again, she was 
quickly circled by kids who wanted the 
latest details.  That's how they knew 
that their Mr. Player was in "deep S" 
with the principal.  "But he was so mad 
he threw her down on the couch," Maria 
said, to defend her hero.  "He lifted 
her above his head (eyes widened at the 
thought) and flung her down so hard she 
bounced."
     Greg knew that Tab's spell had 
ended and she had fallen, but he 
couldn't say such a thing.  He didn't 
know what to do with himself.


     In the nurse's room, Tab hid her 
face in her arms and sobbed.  She 
didn't know that her crying was 
driving poor Mr. Player frantic with 
worry.
     No worse nightmare could happen to 
a dedicated teacher than to have 
personally injured a child in his care.  
He saw the darts in Mrs. Meander's eyes 
as she glared at him.
     There was no explanation.  There 
was no point even trying.  To say she 
floated, almost carried him away, would 
make them question his sanity.
     No one would believe him.


     Mrs. Mallow volunteered to sit 
with Tab until she felt better, and Tab 
was glad.  She had liked being in Mrs. 
Mallow's grade 6 class last year.
     She heard the principal say to Mr. 
Player, "I will expect a full written 
explanation of this.  You may wait for 
me in my office."


     Even Tab could tell that Mr. 
Player was in bad trouble.  Because 
of me, and burst into tears again.  
She heard Mrs. Meander ask several 
teachers who had been witnesses to 
give written statements of what they 
had seen.  She asked Mrs. MacPherson 
to call Maria and Gregory back in.  
She heard no more, because a new bout 
of sobbing had taken over, and didn't 
see the principal walk to her private 
office.


     By then Greg and Maria had 
arrived in the outer office.  Mrs. 
Meander said, "Please hold my calls" 
to the secretary, and purposefully 
closed the office door behind her.
     Greg heard muffled sounds like 
loud voices too, but couldn't make 
out the words.  When they were given 
papers to fill out, they paid no more 
attention to other comings and goings.


     Gregory went through his afternoon 
classes in a daze.  His stomach was in 
a knot, and he couldn't imagine 
anything worse that could happen.
     Little did he know.

     For Tab, it was very much 
worse.  A young blond lady appeared in 
the doorway.  "Tabitha?"
     "Yes--"
     "I'm Christina Blake, of 
Psychological Services.  They asked me to 
look in on you."
     "Hello."  So you've seen me, now go.
     "I hear you had a bad experience 
today.  Would you like to talk about it?"
     "No."  I don't even know you.
     "I'd like to help you."
     "Nobody can."  She choked back 
tears.
     "Of course, that's how it feels 
now, but you'll find it a comfort to 
share--"
     "No."  How can it be a comfort, 
where there is nothing anyone can do?  
Leave me alone.
     For every statement, Tab had 
answered a brief "no."  Finally her 
visitor got up with a smile, probably 
relieved that the half-hour was over.
     "I'll be back on Wednesday.  
'Bye now!"
     So, fine, Tab thought.  I'll be 
sure to be absent on Wednesday, but she 
smiled and said goodbye.  As soon as 
the door closed, she got up and fumed, 
"So I'm a nut case now, am I?"


     Afternoon recess came, but Tab 
refused to go out.  She had been in the 
nurse's room since one.
     Maria had gone out only to find 
that everyone had drifted away except 
Greggy.  "Go away, kid," she said.
     "Please, Maria, do you know how 
Tab is?  She's not badly hurt, is she?"
     A look of consternation crossed 
Maria's face.  "I don't know."  Greggy 
was the only one who had asked.  "Do 
you want me to go back and find out?"
     "Please?"


     "Okay."  That's how Maria happened 
to be at the office just in time to see 
Mr. Player's exit from the principal's 
Inner Sanctum.  This was not the popular 
smiling teacher that she knew.  Like a 
stranger he demanded to know what she 
was still doing there.  No smile, nothing.
     In a small voice she asked, "I came  
to find out--is Tab all right?"
     Coldly he sent her to the nurse's 
room, turned on his heel, and left.
     Maria just stood there.  A hard 
knot grew in her middle.  It twisted 
and made her breathing shallow.  She 
knew, almost for sure...  Mr. Player 
thinks... Oh no!  He thinks that me and 
Tab, WE SET HIM UP.  I was the one who 
went and got him!  He thinks we planned 
this thing!  But we didn't!  Agitated, 
she crept to a chair, and sat small.
     Yes, that's why he hates me now, 
she thought. I bet he thinks I knew 
she was faking.  Does he think I put 
her up to hugging him too?  Maria 
couldn't stand it.  She rushed into 
the washroom, bolted herself into a 
cubicle, and cried.


     Outside, Greg waited for Maria.  
The bell rang, and he still didn't 
know how Tab was.
     In class, Maria did her best not 
to draw attention to herself.  She 
opened her book when told, put it away 
at the end, she stood and followed the 
group to Phys Ed, but Tab's absence 
was always with her.  In the gym, she 
discovered a strange teacher who said 
that Mr. Player was sick that afternoon.
     Sick?  Maybe he hadn't been mad at 
her after all.  Maybe it was because he 
had a headache.
     Maria was more right than she knew.  


     Tabitha would have given anything 
to start this day again.  She'd even 
have settled for being anywhere but at 
school.  As she lay on the nurse's cot, 
Mrs. Mallow popped in to see how she 
was.  "I can't stay," she said, "or the 
kids'll be swinging off the lights, but 
how are you?"
     "Oh Mrs. Mallow, I feel just awful!  
How can Mr. Player ever forgive me?"
     "He's a very kind person.  It'll 
work out, I'm sure."
     "Oh, but I'm just sick about it!"  
Her face burned with embarrassment.
     "You do look feverish.  Should I 
call your mother to come and take you 
home?"
     "No, it's okay.  She's at work."  
That was an awful thought.  "How am I 
going to tell my mother about what 
happened?"
     "Truthfully."
     "It's not what people think.  That 
person from psychological services--or 
something--How come she came right away?"
     "She was already in the school with 
someone else.  I guess someone asked her 
to see you."
     "She was nosy."
     "That's her job, dear."
     "Do they think I'm some kind of a 
nut case?"
     Mrs. Mallow laughed.  "No, no, no. 
They just want to help."
     "Nobody can help me."  Before the 
teacher could speak, Tab added, "It's 
something I have to solve for myself."
     "That's the spirit, Tabitha!  
Whatever it is, I'm sure you will.  
Now, I think I hear my class calling me.  
I must go."
     "Can I...  Maybe, can I come and 
talk with you sometimes?"  Mrs. Mallow 
was always so nice....
     "Of course!"  With a wave, she left.


     Left alone, Tab felt comforted, yet 
she had a problem.  How on earth could 
she tell her mother?  What if her mother 
didn't believe that it was one of her 
attacks?  Tab remembered how her 
mother hadn't listened when she had 
no footprints.
     And what if the school had 
already phoned her mother?  She grew 
pale at the version the school would 
tell.


     And Mr. Player?
     Another heavy worry.  
From listening to her mother talking 
with her teacher-friends, she knew 
that teachers had rules.... Her eyes 
widened.
     It got worse and worse.  When Mr. 
Player carried her in (she blushed to 
remember how she had clung, how she had 
her legs around him, how she had buried 
her face in his...)  What were they 
saying about that?  Considering what 
they said when she'd had the attack 
during gym class, and the way they 
snickered about being alone with Mr. 
Player after gym....       
     It looked so AWFUL!
     What if they told her mother all 
those lies?  Which would she believe-- 
The lies?  
     Or the absolutely crazy truth?
     She knew.  
     Which one sounds more true?

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