Author's note: Mrs. Frensky's first name has not been revealed in any episodes
I'm aware of, so I will call her Linda.
----
Not long afterward, the taxi came to a stop at the intersection of Washington and Sumac. Mrs. Frensky paid the driver, then she and the girls unloaded their luggage from the trunk of the taxi. While they were doing this, a man approached them from one of the nearby houses, smiling. He was dressed in a ragged T-shirt and sandals, and had a monkey-like face as the Frenskys did.
"Need some help with those?" he offered.
Catherine grinned happily when she saw the man. "Uncle Max!" she exclaimed. "I haven't seen you for five years!"
"So good to see you again, Max," said Mrs. Frensky to her brother. "I'm sorry I haven't visited more often, but..."
"Perfectly all right, Linda," said Max understandingly. "Look how much the girls have grown! Francine was, what, three when I last saw her?"
"That would explain why I don't recognize you," said Francine as the taxi drove away.
Shortly another man walked up to the group--a moose man with a large build and well-trimmed antlers. "I don't think you've met Hugo," said Max, gesturing at his moose friend.
"Very happy to meet you," said Hugo with a thick Swedish accent.
"And I'm pleased to meet you," said Mrs. Frensky as she shook hands with Hugo. "You're not the same one I remember."
"You're thinking of Chip," Max explained. "He didn't stay very long. But that's ancient history."
As the two men helped the Frenskys move their suitcases into their house, Max chatted with Francine. "What do you think of Town City so far?" he asked. "It's not like Elwood at all, is it?"
"No, it's not," said Francine. "It's more like being on another planet."
Max chuckled. "I hear that one all the time."
"So, Uncle Max," asked Francine as she put down Nemo's box inside of Max's house, "where's your friend from?"
"I am from Sveden," Hugo replied.
The Frenskys glanced around at the unusually furnished living room. Besides the designer furniture, there were garish-looking sculptures in the corners, made from clay, glass, and other materials. In addition, the walls were lined with opera posters.
"Hugo's a sculptor," said Max. "He made all these things. As for me, I dream of singing opera some day, but I haven't given up my day job."
"What's your day job?" asked Francine curiously.
"He's a carpenter," said Mrs. Frensky.
"Oh, please," said Max, sounding a bit wounded. "That's like calling John Cage a musician. I'd be happy to take you girls around town and show you some of the houses I've worked on."
"You'll love the house with the giant banana on top," said Mrs. Frensky to the girls.
"You're welcome to stay here as long as you need to," said Max. "We've got plenty of room. Since it's not tourist season, you'll have no trouble finding an apartment. That is, if you're planning to stay here for a long time."
"We have no reason to go back to Elwood City," said Mrs. Frensky bitterly.
"No, you certainly don't," said Max. "If I were in your shoes, I'd walk away and never look back."
"What are the schools like here, Uncle Max?" asked Francine.
"The schools," said Max, smiling broadly. "Oh, you'll love the schools."
----
Standing in the middle of the classroom, Francine looked around in wonder and confusion. Where she expected pictures of presidents and letters of the alphabet, there were posters of waterfalls, forests, and flowered fields on the walls. Even stranger was the fact that she was standing in the middle of the room, instead of at the front. Eight other third-graders were seated in a circle of desks surrounding her. A rat woman wearing a floral dress made of natural fibers sat at a larger desk in front of the blackboard.
"Children, this is Francine," said Ms. Ropeburn. "She's new to our class. Francine, would you like to introduce yourself?"
Francine had never seen a group of stranger-looking kids. There were placards on the desks with their names written, so at least she knew that much about them. She looked around the circle. There was Nick, a Pomeranian boy; Mary Elaine, a mouse girl; Cliff, an expensively-dressed horse boy; Thor, a boy who appeared to be some kind of lizard; Summer, a towering giraffe girl; Janet, a Persian cat girl; Howard, a gazelle boy whose shirt bore the slogan GIVE PIZZA A CHANCE; and Minerva, a girl who was apparently part rabbit and part sheep. Francine became increasingly nervous as she examined them, and they became increasingly impatient with her silence.
"She doesn't have a shred of fashion sense," Cliff muttered to Mary Elaine.
"I think she's an alien," Mary Elaine whispered back.
"I'll bet she never gleeped nothin'," Summer whispered to Thor.
"Uh...I'm Francine Frensky," Francine finally spoke.
Suddenly Janet started to laugh riotously.
"What?" said Francine hotly.
Janet choked out a response through gales of laughter.
"Your...first name...and your last name...start with the same letters!"
Francine rolled her eyes as Janet continued to laugh.
"I don't think she's finished, Janet," said Ms. Ropeburn as she fiddled with the peace symbol that hung from her necklace.
Janet quieted down, and Francine continued.
"My mom and my sister and I just came here from Elwood City. My dad's a garbage man. Well, he was a garbage man, but not anymore. And he may not be my dad for much longer, either."
Mary Elaine raised her hand. "Are you an alien?"
The kids chuckled. Francine looked thoughtful for a moment, then answered, "I'm starting to feel like one."
"Are you done, Francine?" asked Ms. Ropeburn.
"Yes, Ms. Ropeburn," said Francine.
"Before you sit down," Ms. Ropeburn continued, "I'd like you to answer a question for me." She rose from her desk and picked up a piece of chalk from the blackboard.
"Here in Town City we approach education differently," said Ms. Ropeburn as Francine accompanied her in front of the blackboard. "It may not be what you're used to. Now, I'd like you to answer the question I've written on the board, and then we'll talk about your answer."
She handed the chalk to Francine, who looked at the board and observed that Ms. Ropeburn had written 2+2=. Without thinking, Francine quickly wrote out the number 4.
"Thank you, Francine," said Ms. Ropeburn. "Now, would you like to tell us why you chose that particular answer?"
Francine became confused.
"Uh...er...because it's the right answer?"
The kids started to chuckle again. Ms. Ropeburn looked at Francine with a hint of disappointment.
"Francine," she asked, "why do you feel that 4 is the right answer?"
"Uh...because it's the answer I learned at my old school," said the increasingly perplexed Francine.
"Very well," said Ms. Ropeburn, "I respect that. We all respect that, don't we, children?"
The other students nodded complacently.
Francine picked up an eraser, rubbed out the 4 she had written, and handed the chalk to Ms. Ropeburn. "Okay, Ms. Ropeburn, if 4 isn't the right answer, then what is?"
Ms. Roperburn smiled in a patronizing way. "I know this is hard for you. At your old school you were taught that every question has one right answer, and all the other answers are wrong. But that's not what we do here. Don't think of me as a teacher, Francine. Think of me as a facilitator. I'm not here to give you the right answer, but to help you find the answer that you're most comfortable with."
Francine's jaw dropped halfway to the floor.
Ms. Ropeburn wrote a 4 on the board. "I'm comfortable with the idea that 2+2=4. I think we all are. However, if I feel in my heart that 2+2=5, or if Nick feels in his heart that 2+2=K, then we should be respected for that."
"You're crazy," said Francine impulsively.
"What...?"
"You're crazy!" she said again, this time louder. "Two and two make four! It doesn't matter what you feel in your heart! If I have two oranges in one hand, and two oranges in the other hand, then I have FOUR ORANGES!"
Francine was surprised to find that her heart was pounding. She had never been so emotionally involved with a math problem before.
It was still pounding several minutes later as she sat in the principal's office...
"Disrupting class, eh?" said the principal, a bear man with prescription glasses. "Well, since you're new here, I'll go easy on you. Two days' detention, starting today."
Francine sighed.
(to be continued)
----
Not long afterward, the taxi came to a stop at the intersection of Washington and Sumac. Mrs. Frensky paid the driver, then she and the girls unloaded their luggage from the trunk of the taxi. While they were doing this, a man approached them from one of the nearby houses, smiling. He was dressed in a ragged T-shirt and sandals, and had a monkey-like face as the Frenskys did.
"Need some help with those?" he offered.
Catherine grinned happily when she saw the man. "Uncle Max!" she exclaimed. "I haven't seen you for five years!"
"So good to see you again, Max," said Mrs. Frensky to her brother. "I'm sorry I haven't visited more often, but..."
"Perfectly all right, Linda," said Max understandingly. "Look how much the girls have grown! Francine was, what, three when I last saw her?"
"That would explain why I don't recognize you," said Francine as the taxi drove away.
Shortly another man walked up to the group--a moose man with a large build and well-trimmed antlers. "I don't think you've met Hugo," said Max, gesturing at his moose friend.
"Very happy to meet you," said Hugo with a thick Swedish accent.
"And I'm pleased to meet you," said Mrs. Frensky as she shook hands with Hugo. "You're not the same one I remember."
"You're thinking of Chip," Max explained. "He didn't stay very long. But that's ancient history."
As the two men helped the Frenskys move their suitcases into their house, Max chatted with Francine. "What do you think of Town City so far?" he asked. "It's not like Elwood at all, is it?"
"No, it's not," said Francine. "It's more like being on another planet."
Max chuckled. "I hear that one all the time."
"So, Uncle Max," asked Francine as she put down Nemo's box inside of Max's house, "where's your friend from?"
"I am from Sveden," Hugo replied.
The Frenskys glanced around at the unusually furnished living room. Besides the designer furniture, there were garish-looking sculptures in the corners, made from clay, glass, and other materials. In addition, the walls were lined with opera posters.
"Hugo's a sculptor," said Max. "He made all these things. As for me, I dream of singing opera some day, but I haven't given up my day job."
"What's your day job?" asked Francine curiously.
"He's a carpenter," said Mrs. Frensky.
"Oh, please," said Max, sounding a bit wounded. "That's like calling John Cage a musician. I'd be happy to take you girls around town and show you some of the houses I've worked on."
"You'll love the house with the giant banana on top," said Mrs. Frensky to the girls.
"You're welcome to stay here as long as you need to," said Max. "We've got plenty of room. Since it's not tourist season, you'll have no trouble finding an apartment. That is, if you're planning to stay here for a long time."
"We have no reason to go back to Elwood City," said Mrs. Frensky bitterly.
"No, you certainly don't," said Max. "If I were in your shoes, I'd walk away and never look back."
"What are the schools like here, Uncle Max?" asked Francine.
"The schools," said Max, smiling broadly. "Oh, you'll love the schools."
----
Standing in the middle of the classroom, Francine looked around in wonder and confusion. Where she expected pictures of presidents and letters of the alphabet, there were posters of waterfalls, forests, and flowered fields on the walls. Even stranger was the fact that she was standing in the middle of the room, instead of at the front. Eight other third-graders were seated in a circle of desks surrounding her. A rat woman wearing a floral dress made of natural fibers sat at a larger desk in front of the blackboard.
"Children, this is Francine," said Ms. Ropeburn. "She's new to our class. Francine, would you like to introduce yourself?"
Francine had never seen a group of stranger-looking kids. There were placards on the desks with their names written, so at least she knew that much about them. She looked around the circle. There was Nick, a Pomeranian boy; Mary Elaine, a mouse girl; Cliff, an expensively-dressed horse boy; Thor, a boy who appeared to be some kind of lizard; Summer, a towering giraffe girl; Janet, a Persian cat girl; Howard, a gazelle boy whose shirt bore the slogan GIVE PIZZA A CHANCE; and Minerva, a girl who was apparently part rabbit and part sheep. Francine became increasingly nervous as she examined them, and they became increasingly impatient with her silence.
"She doesn't have a shred of fashion sense," Cliff muttered to Mary Elaine.
"I think she's an alien," Mary Elaine whispered back.
"I'll bet she never gleeped nothin'," Summer whispered to Thor.
"Uh...I'm Francine Frensky," Francine finally spoke.
Suddenly Janet started to laugh riotously.
"What?" said Francine hotly.
Janet choked out a response through gales of laughter.
"Your...first name...and your last name...start with the same letters!"
Francine rolled her eyes as Janet continued to laugh.
"I don't think she's finished, Janet," said Ms. Ropeburn as she fiddled with the peace symbol that hung from her necklace.
Janet quieted down, and Francine continued.
"My mom and my sister and I just came here from Elwood City. My dad's a garbage man. Well, he was a garbage man, but not anymore. And he may not be my dad for much longer, either."
Mary Elaine raised her hand. "Are you an alien?"
The kids chuckled. Francine looked thoughtful for a moment, then answered, "I'm starting to feel like one."
"Are you done, Francine?" asked Ms. Ropeburn.
"Yes, Ms. Ropeburn," said Francine.
"Before you sit down," Ms. Ropeburn continued, "I'd like you to answer a question for me." She rose from her desk and picked up a piece of chalk from the blackboard.
"Here in Town City we approach education differently," said Ms. Ropeburn as Francine accompanied her in front of the blackboard. "It may not be what you're used to. Now, I'd like you to answer the question I've written on the board, and then we'll talk about your answer."
She handed the chalk to Francine, who looked at the board and observed that Ms. Ropeburn had written 2+2=. Without thinking, Francine quickly wrote out the number 4.
"Thank you, Francine," said Ms. Ropeburn. "Now, would you like to tell us why you chose that particular answer?"
Francine became confused.
"Uh...er...because it's the right answer?"
The kids started to chuckle again. Ms. Ropeburn looked at Francine with a hint of disappointment.
"Francine," she asked, "why do you feel that 4 is the right answer?"
"Uh...because it's the answer I learned at my old school," said the increasingly perplexed Francine.
"Very well," said Ms. Ropeburn, "I respect that. We all respect that, don't we, children?"
The other students nodded complacently.
Francine picked up an eraser, rubbed out the 4 she had written, and handed the chalk to Ms. Ropeburn. "Okay, Ms. Ropeburn, if 4 isn't the right answer, then what is?"
Ms. Roperburn smiled in a patronizing way. "I know this is hard for you. At your old school you were taught that every question has one right answer, and all the other answers are wrong. But that's not what we do here. Don't think of me as a teacher, Francine. Think of me as a facilitator. I'm not here to give you the right answer, but to help you find the answer that you're most comfortable with."
Francine's jaw dropped halfway to the floor.
Ms. Ropeburn wrote a 4 on the board. "I'm comfortable with the idea that 2+2=4. I think we all are. However, if I feel in my heart that 2+2=5, or if Nick feels in his heart that 2+2=K, then we should be respected for that."
"You're crazy," said Francine impulsively.
"What...?"
"You're crazy!" she said again, this time louder. "Two and two make four! It doesn't matter what you feel in your heart! If I have two oranges in one hand, and two oranges in the other hand, then I have FOUR ORANGES!"
Francine was surprised to find that her heart was pounding. She had never been so emotionally involved with a math problem before.
It was still pounding several minutes later as she sat in the principal's office...
"Disrupting class, eh?" said the principal, a bear man with prescription glasses. "Well, since you're new here, I'll go easy on you. Two days' detention, starting today."
Francine sighed.
(to be continued)
