Chapter 4 School Wars Part 1
Caroline and the girls waited patiently for Charles to come home from the school board meeting. Laura sat at the table with a curious look on her face and turned to her ma, "Ma, how do you think the meeting went?" she asked.
Caroline turned away from the door to face Laura, "I don't know, Laura," she replied, "The best thing we can do is hope for the best."
"I hope they fired that Mr. Applewood," Mary chimed in with venom in her tone.
Mary was normally a peacemaker when Laura would get into fights with people, often holding her back. But Mr. Applewood was one of the rare exceptions to Mary's anger. When the family hired that handyman, Nellie was nagging her about monkey business, and slapped the spoiled blonde girl. Another incident was more recent when a tribe of Native Americans came to town looking for a doctor. The MacGreger boy had mentioned that it was his father's Christian duty to find and hang the Indians. He had grabbed Laura's jump rope and tried to demonstrate, but Mary kicked him in the shin and punched him in the gut and yelled at him.
Caroline would've normally reprimanded Mary for saying something like that. But this was one of those situations where she agreed 110% with her daughter. She was concerned that Charles would lose his temper and become violent with the unwelcomed teacher.
Everyone's anxiety skyrocketed when they heard the door open and saw Charles enter the little house before shutting the door behind him.
Laura quickly got up to greet her pa, "Pa, how'd it go?" she asked with a hint of hope in her voice, "Is Mrs. Sims going to be our teacher again?"
Charles let out a long sigh before getting a very serious look on his face, "Girls, sit down," he said.
Laura being Laura, knew that there was something wrong, "What's wrong, pa?" she asked.
Caroline interjected before Charles could yell at Laura for not listening, "Laura, your father asked you to sit down," she said.
"Yes, ma'am," Laura said.
Laura did as she was told and resumed her seat next to Mary. Charles sat down at the head of the table before taking another breath, "Mr. Applewood is still on as the teacher," he stated, "And the reason being is because Harriet Oleson went behind the backs of the school board members and hired him. She's also responsible for Mrs. Sims stepping down as teacher. She sent that letter."
This angered Laura and Mary, "I want to punch Mrs. Oleson in the stomach!" shouted an angry Laura.
Charles gave her daughter a warning glare, "Half-Pint, you will not talk like that," he warned, "I know this is very upsetting, and I would normally ask you and Mary to go to the loft. But I feel that you're both old enough to know what's going on."
"What are we going to do, pa?" asked Mary, "I love school, but I don't want to go to school with him as my teacher! Please, pa!"
Mary was nearly in tears. It really was that bad if someone with excellent grades didn't want to go to school.
Charles let out another sigh before turning to Caroline, "I told the school board that I'd be pulling the girls out of school," he stated, "And I want you to teach the girls until this mess is over with. I'll deliver the eggs to the mercantile."
"But what about my teaching?" Mary asked, "I can help Ma. I'll be graduating soon."
Charles turned to Caroline, and she nodded, "Yes, you can help me teach," she replied, "I know how much becoming a teacher means to you."
Mary let out a sigh of relief before running over and giving her ma a big hug, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, ma!" she exclaimed.
Caroline returned the hug and smiled, "You're welcome, dear," she said before kissing her on the forehead, "Now it's getting late, I want you and your sisters to get ready for bed. I can't have my fellow teacher falling asleep on her first day."
Charles entered the mercantile carrying the basket of eggs. Jonathan Garvey was standing ahead of him in line with his son, Andrew. Ever since Mr. Edwards and his family decided to leave town, the Garvey family had become best friends with the Ingalls'.
Jonathan turned around to greet his friend, "Good morning, Charles," he greeted.
"Good morning, Jonathan, Andy," Charles greeted both the man and his kid.
"Good morning, Mr. Ingalls," Andy replied.
Harriet got annoyed with the attention being taken away from her, "Mr. Garvey, I said that you owe 64 cents," she said in a rude tone, "You can talk to Charles after you finish your transaction."
Jonathan let out an annoyed groan of his own before slamming the coins onto the counter, "There's your 64 cents, Mrs. Oleson," he said back with just as much fight in his voice before turning his attention to Nels, "Nels, sorry for my outburst. I need to get to the school and get Andrew's records. I found out this morning about why that man is the new teacher. We're taking him out of school."
With that, Jonathan left the mercantile with his son in tow, leaving just Charles, Harriet and Nels.
Charles walked to the counter and placed the basket of eggs on the counter, "I have two dozen eggs today," Charles stated, "Please mark it in the book. I need to get over to the mill."
Charles turned around to leave, but Harriet did something that would nearly make Charles lose his cool. She picked up the basket and feigned bad grip before dropping the basket onto the floor, breaking all of the eggs, "Oops, I just seem to lose my grip lately," she said in a sarcastic tone while trying to hold back a smirk for what she had just done.
This enraged Nels big time. Harriet was known for her grudges and getting back at others. The school board meeting from the previous night when things got heated on a few occasions was the reason for Harriet doing what she was doing, "Harriet, get to the back, now!" he ordered.
Harriet glared at her husband, "Nels, I ju-" she got cut off.
"I SAID NOW!" Nels shouted, causing his wife to flinch in fear, "AND DON'T COME BACK OUT FOR THE REST OF THE DAY!"
Harriet scurried to the store room and once she was out of sight, Nels turned his attention to Charles.
"Charles, I'm sorry for my wife," Nels said.
Charles just sighed, "It's alright, Nels," he said, "I suppose it's better than having the whole basket dumped on your head like a few years ago."
This made Nels laugh. That was a hard time in the Oleson marriage. Mrs. Ingalls had come into the store to deliver eggs, but Nels wanted to judge the eggs. This led to an argument which ended in Harriet dumping the eggs onto her husband's head. He still paid for the eggs. When Caroline told Charles about it, he laughed hysterically. The townsfolk had to do all they could to keep the couple from not divorcing, going as far as to have Dr. Baker court Harriet.
"Well like a few years ago, I'll still pay you regular price for the eggs even though they were destroyed by my wife," Nels stated, "And between me and you, I was considering taking Nellie and Willie out of school. I won't because Harriet will just let them sleep and not teach them anything."
Charles laughed at what Nels had told him, "You're in a real jam, Nels," he said, "I'll talk to you later."
"Good day, Charles," Nels said.
Charles turned to leave the store and an idea began to form in his head.
Two weeks had passed since Mr. Applewood's return to Walnut Grove. The class size had shrunk with the absence of Mary, Laura, Carrie, Andy and a few other students.
There was a lot of conflict at the school board meetings with the school board being unable to get Mr. Applewood out as teacher, due to Harriet Oleson's influence.
Mary and Caroline had grown very bored with just teaching just Laura and Carrie.
The Ingalls family were sitting at the dinner table and it was dead silent, and not an angry silence, either. It was just that they had nothing to say.
That silence was broken by Charles, "What's wrong?" he asked, "You all haven't said a thing."
Caroline let out a long sigh, "Charles, when I agreed to teach our girls, I was happy about it," she said, "But to be honest, I'm underwhelmed by it."
Then the idea that Charles had a couple of weeks back when he was at the mercantile had surfaced, "I have an idea that could make things better," he said, "And I feel stupid for not bringing this up sooner."
Laura looked at her pa with curious eyes, "What is it, pa?" she asked.
"I was thinking that we invite all the kids that were pulled out of school to come here to be taught," Charles suggested, "That way, the girls will have some of their classmates back and you and Mary both can write official lesson plans. This house may be small, but I'm sure if we moved a few things around, we could turn this common room into a temporary classroom. I talked to Mr. Hanson about it and he offered to donate the needed lumber to build a room for school on this property."
Hearing this idea made both Caroline and Mary excited again, "Charles, that would be great!" Caroline exclaimed, "How many kids were pulled out besides our kids?"
"I know Alice has a teaching certificate, but I'm sure she'd allow Andy to come and learn," Charles stated, "Nels was considering pulling Nellie and Willie out of school as well," Laura was about to complain about not liking Nellie, but Charles quickly cut her off, "And Half-Pint, I know you and Nellie haven't always gotten along, but it's the neighborly thing to do is invite them to come to school here."
Laura let out a sigh of defeat, "Alright," she said, "I'll invite her and Willie tomorrow when I go deliver the eggs."
"Good girl," Charles said before kissing his daughter on the forehead, "Now finish eating your stew before Bandit jumps up and eats it."
"Yes, sir," Laura said before she resumed eating.
"Oh, I can ask Spotted Eagle if he wants to come learn, pa," Mary said, "And Solomon Henry came back. I'm sure he'd love to learn as well."
"I think that would be a great idea," Charles said.
"Then on the way to the mercantile, I can ask a couple of the others if they'd be willing to come," Laura added.
Laura brought the eggs into the mercantile and this time Nels was the one working behind the counter, "Good morning, Mr. Oleson," she greeted.
Nels looked over and smiled at Laura, "Good morning, Laura," he greeted, "How are you this morning?"
"I'm doing great, Mr. Oleson," Laura said, "I just have a dozen eggs today."
Laura placed the basket of eggs onto the counter and Nels counted them. After counting them, he gave a nod, "Would you like cash or mark it in the book?" he asked.
"Mark it in the book, please," Laura said.
Nels marked the eggs into the account and Laura was about to leave, but then she remembered something.
"Mr. Oleson, are Willie and Nellie here?" she asked.
"No, Laura," Nels replied, "What's the matter?"
"My ma's going to start teaching other kids in the area at our house," Laura stated, "And We've been going around asking anyone if they're interested. I was wondering if Nellie and Willie were interested. We already have the Garveys on board, Jenny's ma, Solomon Henry, Spotted Eagle, Jonah Davis' parents, the Piersons, the Harrisons and Mr. Farrow."
Nels didn't see his wife in sight, so he didn't take long to respond, "Laura, tell your ma that Nellie and Willie will be there for school Monday morning," he said.
"I will, Mr. Oleson," Laura said, "I better get back home now. Have a good day, Mr. Oleson."
Laura left the shop as Mr. Oleson waved goodbye. What Nels didn't know was that Harriet was in the store room listening to the whole conversation.
That's it for this chapter.
Thanks to those that read and reviewed the last chapter.