Notes: Mari and Sammy – thank you for the amazing feedback on this story. Special thanks to Sammy for the ending! I hope I did your beautiful idea justice.
Readers and REAL McRollers – thank you so much for your continued support. Your love for the REAL World and these characters is incredible and very much appreciated!
A special thank you to all the teachers out there. I know we have quite a few among our readers. Thank you for your dedication to your classrooms and your students each and every day.
Hope you enjoy!
Commander Steve Goes to First Grade (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
Steve and Catherine stood outside with several other parents and guests looking at the assortment of balls, ropes, hoops, bean bags, cones, and other equipment set up by teachers and volunteers for the annual First Grade Field Day at Jacob's school. Forty kids buzzed with excitement as they awaited instructions from their teachers.
Catherine chuckled at Steve's expression. "Look at you. You're as excited as they are."
He grinned and shrugged. "Arts and crafts are fine, but …"
"This is more your speed, I know," she said, nodding indulgently. "That's why I thought it'd be a good day for you to come."
"Come on, you can't tell me you're not excited for the obstacle course," he said, motioning to the far side of the field.
"Oh, I'm very excited for the obstacle course. Because you see that tunnel of hoops, Commander? Those are sized for seven-year-olds, and that's gonna slow you down."
He folded his arms, his smile widening. "You think so, huh?"
"I know so." She grinned at him with a teasing glint in her eyes. "You're going down, McGarrett."
"We'll see about that, Rollins."
Their banter was interrupted by Jacob's excited voice.
"Aunt Catherine! Uncle Steve!" He slapped a hand over his mouth and giggled. "Ooops. I mean, Lieutenant Catherine and Commander Steve. Come on! It's time to start!"
He was echoed by several of his classmates calling to their family members to join the large group. The two first grade teachers, Ms. Lane and Mr. Liu stood in front of everyone with huge, excited smiles.
"Thanks to everyone for coming out today!" Ms. Lane said. "We are going to have a lot of fun!"
"We have a lot of great activities planned," Mr. Liu continued. He held up his clipboard. "We have everyone assigned to teams for the day. We'll start with some whole group competitions, and then break into smaller groups to rotate through all the activities. Then we'll come back together at the end for a few more big games."
"There's only three rules today," Ms. Lane said. "Follow directions, try your best, and have fun. If you do those three things, we're going to have a great Field Day!"
"The best Field Day ever!" Jacob cried, pumping his fist.
His teacher laughed. "That right," she said. "The best Field Day ever."
The gathered group clapped and cheered, ready to begin. Teams were quickly assigned. Not all of the adults were participating, so most teams had four kids and one adult on each.
"Our first event is a musical relay race," Ms. Lane said.
Jacob looked at Steve and Catherine behind him and said, "Because Ms. Lane loves music."
She smiled at him and continued with her explanation. "One at a time, you'll run down to the line of orange cones. When you get there, you'll stop, sing Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes, doing all the motions, then run back to tag the next person on your team so they can do the same thing. The first team to get all their members back across the starting line wins!" She looked around at all the teams. "Does everyone understand?"
"YES!" they chorused.
Catherine smiled at Steve, nudging his hip. "You remember that song?" she teased.
"I got it," he said confidently. "As long as there's no penalty for being off-key."
Ms. Lane, hearing their exchange, laughed. "Definitely not. As long as you try."
"Yeah, you just gotta try," Jacob told him seriously. He smiled encouragingly. "Don't worry. You'll be good."
Steve ruffled his head. "Thanks, Jacob."
The teams lined up side by side. Catherine stood behind Jacob, Reggie, Ameera, and Kalea while Steve was at the end of his group's line with four of Jacob's other classmates: Ani, Sydney, Keone, and Jeremy.
Ms. Lane stood behind the teams and called out, "On your mark … get set … GO!"
The first member of each team ran toward the orange cones, their teammates cheering them on the whole way. When they reached the cones, they speed-sang the song, giggling and laughing as they did.
"Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toooooes …"
Jacob started to run back toward his team, and Catherine called, "Eyes and ears, Jacob!"
He stopped, his eyes widening. "Oh yeah!"
He ran back to the cones to sing the rest of the song while the other runners, having finished, headed back for their teams.
The relay continued with every team member completing the musical challenge. The cheers grew as the last leg of competitors, all adults, sprinted for the finish line, with Steve several steps ahead of the others.
"Great job, everyone!" Ms. Lane enthused over the claps and cheers. She and Mr. Liu sent the teams off to different stations, promising more relays throughout the afternoon.
Steve's group started off at Volleyball Bowling, where they would use a volleyball to knock over empty two-liter bottles that had a couple inches of sand in the bottom.
Catherine's team started with the Hula Hoop Challenge to see who could keep their hoop going the longest.
When they were finished, Jacob ran over to Steve excitedly. "Uncle Steve! I got the longest time in my group! Well, except for Aunt Catherine, but she's a grown-up."
"Great job, Jacob," Steve said, smiling at him. "All that practice paid off."
"Yeah! I can't wait to tell Jess!"
He bounded over to Keone and Jeremy, demonstrating his hula hoop skills sans hoop as the rest of Catherine's group joined them.
"Jacob said you got married!" Kalea exclaimed.
"That's right," Steve said, his eyes softening as they automatically met Catherine's.
Ameera looked knowingly between them, nodding. "I bet it's 'cause he finally got you gummy bears."
Catherine folded her arms, looking at Steve. "You know, he never did."
Ameera gaped in disbelief. "And you got married to him anyways?"
Catherine threaded her arm through Steve's, fighting a grin. "He has a few other good qualities."
He smiled at her, staring to speak, but was interrupted by another question.
"Did you ride in a pretty carriage with horses when you got married?" Sydney asked hopefully.
Steve's brow creased. "No, why would we–"
The little girl slumped. "No horses?"
"No …"
"Not even one?"
"Are you all ready for the 'Shave Ice' Relay?" Mr. Liu asked, joining the two teams.
"We get to have shave ice?!" Jacob asked excitedly, his classmates jumping along with him.
"Well, not exactly," the teacher said. He held up an empty shave ice cone and put a medium size beach ball on top. "You're going to race with the beach ball on top of your cone."
"That's easy!" Jeremy exclaimed.
"Not so fast," Mr. Liu said with a smile. "You can't hold the beach ball on there. You can only hold the cone. If it falls off, you have to stop, pick it up, and put it back on before you can keep going forward."
The kids' mouths dropped open, and they looked at each other with a mix of incredulity and excitement.
"We'll see who's the first team to get everyone to the big orange cone and back, okay?"
"YEAH!" the kids cheered.
Mr. Liu looked at Steve and Catherine. "Whenever you're ready, captains."
"Okay, my team, huddle up," Steve said, motioning the kids to gather around. They looked up at him with wide eyes and rapt attention. "We're gonna have to be fast to win. But the most important thing is not to panic if the ball falls off, okay? Keep your cool. Keep your focus."
Catherine had likewise gathered her team around her, kneeling to address them. "Slow and steady is gonna win this one, all right?" she said. "Don't worry about the other team, just focus on staying in a straight line to the orange cone. Nice and steady to keep that ball on the cone. Got it?"
"Got it!" they cried excitedly.
" 'Go Team,' on three," Steve said, putting his hand in the center of his team. "Ready? One, two, three …"
"GO TEAM!"
The two teams lined up, Jacob and Ani going first for their respective groups. Mr. Liu put a beach ball on each of their cones and stepped back to start the relay.
"On your mark," he said. "Get set … GO!"
The two runners took off, with both beach balls immediately falling off the cones.
"That's okay," Steve called from the back of his team's line. "Keep your cool, Ani, you got this!"
"Slow and steady, Jacob!" Catherine said, cupping her hands around her mouth.
The kids grabbed their balls, momentarily confusing them, and put them back on the cones to continue the race. After a few more drops, both were back to their teams, handing off to the next competitor, Steve's team with a slight lead.
"Go, Kalea!" her teammates cried.
"Come on, Jeremy!"
The race continued with many stops and starts. In the final leg, Catherine was nearly to the orange cone when Keone finally handed off his team's cone and ball to Steve. His long strides and excellent hand-eye coordination shortened her lead, but she was just as coordinated and didn't drop the ball once, allowing her to cross the finish line several steps before him.
"WOOOOO!" her team cheered as they jumped around her.
"Way to go!" she said, giving high fives all around. She turned to the other team. "You guys did awesome."
"Yeah!" Jacob echoed. "Awesome!"
"Good race," Steve acknowledged, holding out his hand to Catherine and encouraging his team to do the same.
They all shook hands, congratulating each other, flush with energy and enthusiasm.
"That was fantastic!" Mr. Liu said. "Great job, everyone." He looked at Steve. "Commander, your group is headed to the balance beam next, and Lieutenant, you all get to dig for marbles." He indicated a large kiddie pool full of packaging peanuts. "I think the record so far is 21 marbles in 30 seconds."
"Rematch at the next relay, Rollins," Steve said, pointing at her.
She grinned. "You're on."
She led her group toward the kiddie pool, and Steve followed his to a balance beam set up about a foot off the ground. One at a time, each kid would put a bean bag on his or her head and try to make it across the beam without the bag falling off.
Steve called out encouragements and pointers as Keone started across the beam, followed by Jeremy, and then Sydney.
"How old are your kids?" Ani asked him.
He looked down at her. "Uh … we don't have any."
She blinked at him. "But you're married."
"Yeah but ... one doesn't automatically lead to the other."
"My mom said you have kids after you get married," she said matter-of-factly. " 'Cause that's when you kiss."
He glanced around. "Um … you know what … I think it's almost your turn on the balance beam."
Her face brightened, and she picked up a green bean bag. "Okay," she said easily and gave him a quick nod. "We'll acuss this later."
His brow creased as he translated the sentence, then silently hoped they'd never get around to that particular 'acussion.'
"It's your turn, Commander Steve!" Sydney called.
"You think I can make it across?" he asked, scooping up a blue bean bag and stepping onto the balance beam.
"Yeah!" they all cried.
"Remember, no hands!" Ani said.
He smiled. "Got it." Holding his arms out in an exaggerated gesture, he nimbly ran across the balance beam with the bean bag on his head and stepped back off.
"That was too easy!" Jeremy called.
"Yeah!" Keone agreed. "You should do it backwards!"
"Backwards?!" Steve said, feigning disbelief at the suggestion.
"Yeah!" Ani said, jumping excitedly. "With your eyes closed!"
"Yeah!" Sydney echoed. "Your eyes closed!"
"I don't know about this," Steve said, stepping back onto the beam and turning around. He leaned to the side and held his arms out, making a show of regaining his balance. "Whoa."
Sydney and Keone gasped, and Ani giggled.
"Now close your eyes," she demanded.
"Do I have to?" he asked.
"YES!" they all cried, clapping with excitement.
He waggled his eyebrows quickly, then closed his eyes and easily ran backwards along the beam, hopping off at the end and allowing the bag to slide off his head into his hand.
"You did it!" Sydney cheered.
"Do it again!" Jeremy called.
"Again?!" Steve said, grinning at them.
"I'm afraid not," Ms. Lane said, coming over with a smile. "You're due up for your next relay." She pointed to where Catherine and her team were waiting. "This is a fun one. It's our 'Day at the Beach' relay. Come on over and I'll tell you how it works."
They followed her to the open area with two beach chairs set up 15 yards away. She held up two large, brightly colored beach bags.
"Each team gets one bag. Inside the bag is a towel, sunglasses, hat, and a book. One at a time, you'll race down to your chair, put your towel on it, put your sunglasses and hat on, and sit down with your book. Then you'll stand up, put everything back in your bag, and race back to hand off to the next person. First team to have everyone spend 'a day on the beach' wins!"
" 'A day on the beach'!" Jacob laughed. "That's funny, Ms. Lane. 'Cause it's not really a day."
"Speaking of funny …" she said, her eyes twinkling as she looked at him. "I know how much you loves jokes."
Jacob's eyes widened excitedly. "I do!"
"Well, do you know which is the best day to go to the beach?"
He bit his lip, thinking hard. "Which one?"
"Sunday!" she said. "Get it? SUNday!"
"SUNDAY!" Jacob repeated, laughing hysterically. He turned to his friend beside him. "Get it, Reggie? 'Cause of the sun!" He looked up at Steve. "Did you hear that, Uncle Steve?" Before Steve could answer, Jacob looked back at his teacher. "Uncle Steve's real funny, Ms. Lane. Oops!" He laughed. "I mean, Commander Steve. He tells good jokes, too."
"Thanks, Jacob," Steve said. He smiled at Ms. Lane. "I'll have to remember that one."
"You're welcome to it," she said, returning his smile. She looked at the gathered teams. "Now, are you ready?"
"YEAH!"
The teams quickly lined up, shifting their orders a little, but with Steve and Catherine still at the end of their lines. The relay began, the oversized sunglasses and hats causing gales of laughter to erupt from the first-graders.
A slight mishap with the towel and chair during Reggie's leg of the race had Catherine's team well behind when she finally crossed the finish line. But her team hardly cared since she had left the huge purple sunglasses on as she ran back.
"That's a good look, Rollins," Steve said.
"I know, I'm thinking I might need a pair of these." She grinned at the kids around them. "What do you guys think?"
"Yeah!" they cried, laughing.
"What's up next?" Steve asked Ms. Lane.
"Let's see," she said, looking at her clipboard. "Your group is moving to the fishing pond. You'll be fishing for letters and trying to make as many words as you can. And Lieutenant Catherine's group is headed to the bean bag toss." She smiled at them. "Have fun!"
"Let's go, Aunt Catherine!" Jacob said, grabbing her hand and tugging.
Reggie took her other hand, and she laughed as they pulled her toward the hula hoops arranged for the bean bag toss. Ameera and Kalea ran after, squealing happily.
After spelling numerous words at the fishing pond, Steve's group moved over to tug-of-war. He rotated the four kids so that each had a chance to be partners, and then Keone said, "Now you try to beat all of us, Commander Steve!"
"Yeah!" Jeremy immediately agreed, and the two boys ran to join the girls on one side of the rope.
Steve laughed and shrugged. "Okay."
He picked up the other end of the rope, wrapping it around his hands and planting his feet. He braced himself and held his ground as the four kids tugged and pulled, laughing all the while.
Catherine's team ran over, and Jacob said, "Can we pull, too, Uncle … er, Commander Steve?"
"Sure, bring it on," he said easily.
The other four kids joined their classmates on one side of the rope as Catherine looked on, smiling. Once all eight started to really pull, Steve grimaced, trying to retain his position.
Catherine's smile grew as he gave it a valiant effort, but ended up sliding to the ground.
The victorious seven-year-olds jumped and cheered, and Catherine came to stand over Steve.
"Bit off a little more than you could handle, huh, Commander?" she asked and offered him a hand to help him up.
He chuckled, releasing her hand and brushing off the back of his cargoes once he had stood. "Well, wouldn't be a visit to Jacob's class if I didn't end up with dirt on my pants."
"That was awesome!" Jacob cried.
Steve rubbed his hands together. "I was just getting warmed up. Let's go again."
"Maybe Aunt Cath–" He stopped. "I mean, Lieutenant Catherine should be on your team this time."
Steve looked at Catherine and smiled. He winked at Jacob. "Best teammate ever."
Jacob grinned, looking at his classmates. "He means 'cause they're married."
"Yeah," Ameera agreed. "Married."
"Married," Kalea echoed.
"But they don't got kids," Ani said.
"Yet," Jacob said.
Steve and Catherine both raised their eyebrows at his pronouncement.
He grinned at them. "That's what my mom said."
They exchanged a look and chuckled.
"Yet," they both agreed, picking up the rope together.
The afternoon continued with more games and activities. There was a hula hoop relay where teams joined hands and maneuvered a hoop from one end of the line to the other without letting go, followed by a sponge relay with four teams at a time trying to fill empty buckets using the water from full ones and just a sponge.
Ms. Lane organized Musical Hoops, a fun variation of Musical Chairs with kids jumping into hula hoops set on the ground every time the music stopped. Steve coached his team on flipping and catching bean bags with frisbees while Catherine showed her group the tips for successfully completing the obstacle course.
When Steve's group joined them, they were cheering for Reggie as he crawled under a tunnel of consecutive hoops cut in half and secured to the ground.
"Aunt Catherine is so good at obsicle courses, Uncle Steve!" Jacob told him.
"I know," Steve said, smiling. "She always has been." He winked at Catherine. "But you know … I have beat her a couple of times before."
Jacob's mouth opened wide, and he looked at his friends. "Really?"
"Really."
Catherine folded her arms, pressing her lips together to hide her smile. "Care to put your money where you mouth is, Commander?"
"Bring it on, Lieutenant," he said, nodding to where another team had just vacated the second obstacle course.
"A race! A race!" Jacob cried, jumping up and down.
The other kids quickly joined his cheer, and Catherine and Steve lined up at the start of each course.
"To the end and back?" he said.
"Yep. You gotta grab a flag off the rock wall." She grinned. "Don't get tripped up on those cones."
He chuckled. "Why don't you worry about your own course, there, Rollins."
"Okay, Jacob," Catherine said. "You tell us when to go."
With a grin that nearly split his face, Jacob held both arms up in the air. "On your mark …"
Steve and Catherine crouched in ready positions, exchanging smiles.
"Get set …"
Their faces grew focused.
The rest of their teams joined in to shout, "GO!" as Jacob dropped his arms with a flourish.
The two competitors took off in a dead sprint for the first five yards before weaving between small orange cones. Set up for first-graders, the cones were close together which slowed Steve more than it did Catherine, but he quickly caught up on the next sprint. They both made it through the series of hula hoops next, planting one foot in each, with Steve's longer legs giving him a slight edge. The next obstacle was the tunnel of hoops, however, and as Catherine had predicted at the start of the day, the narrow space slowed him down as they crawled underneath.
Behind them, their teams cheered wildly and had been joined by most of the other Field Day participants and spectators.
Catherine was the first to vault over the four foot pile of colorful gym mats and beat Steve to her set of zig zag balance beams which she quickly navigated. The final obstacle was a small mobile rock wall with a series of flags on top. She only needed to climb onto one of the lower rocks to reach a flag, pulling it off and turning back to reverse the course.
Steve reached his wall and was tall enough to grab a flag without climbing. He turned quickly to sprint back to the beams, still behind Catherine who was over her gym mats and headed back for the tunnel of hoops.
The cheers grew raucous as they neared the end, once again weaving between the plastic cones. Steve gave a final burst of speed, but it wasn't enough to catch Catherine who crossed the line three steps ahead of him.
"You did it you did it YOU DID IT!" Jacob yelled, wrapping his arms around her waist. He beamed at Steve. "And you did it, too, Uncle Steve! Just … not quite as fast as Aunt Catherine."
"Nope," he said, grinning at her. "Not quite as fast."
"You're kinda big for those hoops," Jeremy said.
Steve rubbed the back of his neck, glancing back at the tunnel that cost him the most time on the course. "Yep, that was tough. But Lieutenant Catherine won. Fair and square."
"And did you see how Commander Steve never gave up, boys and girls?" Ms. Lane said. "He and Lieutenant Catherine were trying their hardest the whole time. That's very important."
" 'Cause you should always try, right, Ms. Lane?" Ani said.
"That's right."
"I can't wait to tell Cody!" Jacob said, bouncing in place. "And Dylan and Casey and–" He stopped. "Hey, Uncle Steve, 'member when we set up the sprinkler in the obsicle course at our house?"
Steve smiled. "Sure I do."
"That was so much fun! I wish there was a sprinkler here today!"
"No sprinkler," Mr. Liu said. "But you might have a chance to get wet when we do the water balloon toss at the end of the day."
"WOOO!" Jacob cried, jumping up and down. "Water balloons!"
"For now you have a little bit of free time," Ms. Lane said. "You can do whatever activities you like for the next ten minutes."
"Let's do the obsicle course!" Jacob said to his team. "Wanna race like Uncle Steve and Aunt Catherine?"
"YEAH!"
"Come on!"
The kids headed off in all directions, boisterous laughter and cheers in their wake.
Steve and Catherine found themselves next to Joni Lane, watching as Jacob led his friends in exuberant laps through the obstacle course.
"He is certainly one of a kind," she said.
Catherine smiled broadly. "Yes, he is."
"Kind of sad he's the last Allen I'll have in my class." When Catherine and Steve looked over at her, she said, "I had Kaitlyn and Dylan as well, and got to know the older kids through them. Such a special family."
"They are," Steve agreed.
"And I think it's wonderful how you have folded them into your family. Jacob told me all about how he has aunts and uncles and cousins and grandmas now because of you two." She looked at them admiringly. "That's what a family truly is: some blood relations and some chosen members, constructed with love."
Catherine's hand found Steve's between them and intertwined their fingers, smiling at him before turning her attention back to the kind, warm-hearted teacher.
"We were very lucky the day they came into our lives," she said, and Steve nodded his agreement.
Joni smiled softly at them. "We should all be so lucky."
"Aunt Catherine! Uncle Steve! Come on!" Jacob cried from the top of the rock wall.
"Go on," Joni said, reaching over and squeezing Catherine's arm. She patted Steve's as well. "Mustn't keep family waiting."
After helping clean up when all the Field Day events were complete, Steve and Catherine walked hand-in-hand across the parking lot toward his truck.
"You gonna get me some gummy bears on the way home this time?" she asked with a grin.
He grinned back. "I think I probably should, you've been waiting a year for 'em."
Her smile softened. "They'll be worth the wait," she said meaningfully.
His fingers tightened around hers.
She squeezed back and smiled. "Gotta celebrate my obstacle course victory."
He chuckled. "With gummy bears."
"Why not?" she asked with a grin.
"Why not," he echoed.
They walked in silence for a moment before he continued, "You know, I've run a lot of those courses in my life …"
"And you've gotten the better of me plenty of times."
He gave her a small smile. "I … it's … it's like my life, I think."
She stopped walked and turned to face him.
"I used to let myself get too focused on each individual segment …" he said. "And then I finally realized it's about the entire course. And one thing I've always known is it's better with you running right beside me."
She reached over and took his other hand. "That's where I'll always be. Count on it."
"I do," he said seriously. "You're my constant, Catherine. Through every obstacle."
She squeezed his hands. "And you're mine. Don't ever forget that, Steve. It's not one-way. We push each other to be better. Support each other. That's what it's all about."
He leaned over and kissed her lightly. He smiled. "Now come on, we've got a stop to make on the way home."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Lin's on Kamakee. I have it on good authority they sell the best gummy bears on the island."
"Who's?" she asked.
"Ameera and Kalea."
She laughed. "Definitely good authority, then."
"Yep," he said with a grin.
"Okay," she agreed. "As long as we eat them together."
"Together," he said, keeping hold of one of her hands as they turned toward the truck. "That's the plan."
Hope you enjoyed!
Note: Jacob's teacher, Joni Lane, is in honor of our very own jmlane1966. Thank you for all your years as a dedicated music teacher, positively impacting so many young lives, and thank you for your incredible support of the REAL World!
Keep track of all the REAL World stories on our Tumblr page - mcrollintherealworld at tumblr dot com - including a chronological list!
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