It was about a month later before Whitney High was ready to reopen its doors to its students. The part of the building Ralph's classroom had been was bulldozed and was in the midst of reconstruction with even stronger materials. During the interim, Ralph would have to teach his class in the music room.

Ralph was walking down the hallway to the classroom, Knight walked up to meet him. "Mr. Hinkley, may I speak to you for a moment?"

"All right, what did the class do this time," said Ralph, still trying to figure out how Paco and Chaffee managed to put a teacher's desk and four student's desks in the oak near the school without cutting any limbs.

Knight coughed slightly, realizing Ralph was again jumping to conclusions. "Nothing, for once. I wanted to speak with you Mr. Hinkley. I haven't had time to tell you this, but I wanted to say that you did a good job keeping Mr. Villacana with us," he said.

"It was nothing, and I'm glad that my taking CPR saved someone's life. I heard that the board is going to require it and first aid for all teachers getting their certification."

"Well, saving one life was enough to make them realize how important it truly was," said Knight, pausing a moment. "What surprised me more was how you were able to stand on your feet as long as you did that night. If you hadn't, we could've lost a student. When I saw that friend of yours catch you after you collapsed, I also thought we could lose a teacher instead."

"Yeah I have to admit, I was surprised when I came to in the hospital and found out I had been in and out for nine hours. ... I will never say this to Tony, but I was very scared that he was going to die, just like Pam was scared a few years ago when it was me. I was charged during a basketball game, and they wondered if I'd suffer seizures or other long-term effects," said Ralph, coughing slightly at the memory. "When I was tending to Tony while he was still out, I started replaying what I remembered about that day and afterward. But, given Tony's broken leg and then when he went into arrest, I wondered what else could happen."

Knight paused, realizing that Ralph really had been through a lot that day. "Have you had a chance to talk to Mr. Villacana since he was released from the hosptial?"

"I called him the other day at his home. He said he was still sore, but surprisingly ready to go to school tomorrow. Said he wanted to argue with Cyler while he could make the jabs and know he couldn't get hit," said Ralph wryly. Before the principal said anything, Ralph chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye out on both just to be safe and I've got my air horn to stop them if they do start getting rough. Seems to work better than anything else I've tried."

Knight shook his head. "Just please don't end up lying on the floor out for the count again," he tried to say sternly, but the chuckle belied it. The younger man chuckled in reply and both went on their separate ways.

Ralph walked up to the door, only to hear the sound of what sounded like swordfighting. Groaning, he reached inside his briefcase for his air horn.

Opening the door, instead of seeing the group fighting with the drumsticks saw one of his students counting down a beat for a song and the rest trying to figure out what parts they were supposed to sing. The drummer and the class paused when they saw Ralph enter the room. "Don't mind me," said Ralph. "If you want to sing, that'll be something constructive for a change."

The class chuckled. "Well, we wanted to practice what we had so far for Tony's welcome back party," said Cyler. "He's coming back tomorrow, and we wanted to surprise him."

Ralph shook his head. "You know, that's a great idea. Just be sure it doesn't turn into a fight. Because he's still tires easily and is still on crutches, I will make sure you get suspended if you do." he said, hoping they'd take him seriously.

Cyler nodded his acknowledgement as Rhonda came forward and shrugged. "So, Mr. H, how long do we have to stay in this room? I mean, it's pretty big and it echoes," she said

"Probably the rest of the school year. Construction's got to rebuild our classroom, but we're not the only ones as well. We could've ended up in the cafeteria, and since it's close to lunchtime and most of you have second lunch..."

"Yeah, I hear you, it'd be worse," said Rhonda, chuckling. "So..."

"Ralph," interrupted Bill as he entered the music room, causing the class to groan.

Ralph shook his head. "Bill, what do you need? We're about to start class..."

"Well, I was wondering if Villacana was here. I have something for him."

"No, not until tomorrow, and I'm not going to let you give him an application for selective service again. He doesn't have to register for that yet."

Bill frowned. "No kid, I ain't gonna do that. It's a duck and a turkey."

"A duck and turkey? You sure Pam and I were the ones hospitalized?"

"Yeah kid, I'm giving him a duck and a turkey," said Bill as he showed him the stuffed animals. "It's to remind him to next time... 'duck turkey'."

Ralph and the class paused for a moment before they roared in laughter, realizing what the comment meant.

"All right. Come on class, let's get settled. After you rehearse your song, we're going to study English. We'll study a half an hour, then we'll switch over to planning Tony's party. The one thing we're going to make sure of is to include Bill's duck and turkey in the theme, since he needs to follow it too."

Bill rolled his eyes, and Ralph and the class laughed. They realized that despite the earthquake, things were going to get better.