Chapter 5

Miss Grey stood in front of the classroom writing the letter D on the board. This was the letter that the first year students were currently learning. Ruby was trying to give her full attention to Miss Grey, but Toby Stollman was sitting directly behind her, bothering her. He would poke her with his slate pencil and tug on her braids. Earlier Toby was teasing Ruby during break time.

"Toby, will you please come to the board and show us how to write the letter, D?" asked Miss Grey. She had a piece of chalk in her hand, ready to give it to Toby.

"Sure, Miss Grey," Toby happily obliged.

Toby slid out of his seat and started to walk up to the chalkboard. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity to get back at Toby for bothering her, Ruby put her foot out. Toby tripped over Ruby's foot. The class began to laugh. Toby started crying.

"Class! Class!" Miss Grey was trying to get her students' attention, so she could calm them down. "Now that's enough."

Miss Grey walked over to Toby to make sure he was alright. Luckily the boy was not seriously injured. He had a scrape on his chin, but that was all. Miss Grey looked at Ruby.

"Ruby, do you want to tell me why you put your foot out and tripped Toby?" she asked.

Ruby looked at Miss Grey and shook her head. "No."

"Okay. If you're not going to explain yourself, then you can at least say you're sorry to Toby," Miss Grey told Ruby.

"I'm not telling him sorry!" Ruby exclaimed. "He 'zerved to be tripped."

"Nobody deserves to be tripped," Miss Grey responded.

"Toby does," Ruby replied. The class began to snicker.

Miss Grey did not want to continue this in front of the class. She could tell by the looks on their faces and their snickering that they were enjoying this more than they should. Miss Grey also knew that she could not let Ruby Dillon get away with what she did. She contemplated having Ruby stand in the corner while the children went outside for recess, but then had another idea.

Being that Ruby's father was the Marshal, Miss Grey decided that it may be best if she took Ruby to his office. She had a feeling that Ruby's parents did not tolerate this kind of behavior. Maybe if she took Ruby to her father's office, he would get some answers from the little girl.

"Class, it's so nice outside that I've decided to give you a longer recess with your lunchtime," said Miss Grey.

"Yay!" the class exclaimed.

"Alright, you may go outside," said Miss Grey, giving her students permission to leave. Ruby was about to leave with the rest of the students, but Miss Grey stopped her. "Ruby, please stay here."

Ruby did as she was told. Miss Grey walked over to Ruby's desk and knelt down so she was at eye level with her. She would give Ruby one more chance to explain why she tripped Toby.

"I'm going to give you another chance to tell me why you tripped Toby," said Miss Grey. "Are you going to take this chance?"

Ruby crossed her arms, determined not to give her reason. "No."

"Very well," said Miss Grey, standing up. "I need you to come with me."

"Where are we going?" asked Ruby. She followed Miss Grey.

"Well, I figured if you won't tell me why you tripped Toby, then maybe you'll tell your father," Miss Grey answered.

Ruby wasn't sure if she wanted her daddy involved in this. Nevertheless, she wasn't going to give her reasons. Her lips were sealed.

Miss Grey took Ruby in the direction of the Marshal's office, but first she stopped in front of her oldest, most responsible student. "Belinda, I have to leave for a bit. Would you mind keeping an eye on things until I get back?"

"Sure, Miss Grey," Belinda responded. "No problem."

"Thank you," Miss Grey smiled. "I'll be back soon."

Festus was walking to the Long Branch when he saw Miss Grey walking with Ruby to the jail. Knowing that Matt was in the office, Festus continued onto the Long Branch. He had a checker match set with Sam. Lately Festus hadn't had too much luck with checkers. He had recently lost games between both Doc and Newly. Festus was hoping things would change with his checker game against Sam. He pushed open the batwing doors to find that Sam had the checkerboard set up at the bar.

Matt was sitting at the jail's table, cleaning his gun, when Miss Grey walked in with Ruby. That was the last thing that Matt expected. He put his gun down and stood up. Ruby didn't look hurt, so that was a relief. It was possible that she was not feeling well.

"Miss Grey," Matt addressed the teacher in front of him. "This is a surprise. Is Ruby alright?" He looked at his daughter with a look of concern all over his face.

"She's not sick or anything," Miss Grey assured him.

Matt let out a sigh of relief. "So to what do I owe this visit?"

"We seem to have a discipline issue with Ruby," Miss Grey replied.

"A discipline issue?" Matt questioned. "What did she do?"

"She tripped Toby Stollman as he was walking up to the front of the classroom," Miss Grey started to explain. "And then she refused to apologize and explain why she did it. I'm hoping that maybe you could get an explanation out of her."

Matt turned his attention to Ruby. "Is this true, young lady?" His voice was low and stern. Unable to find her voice, Ruby shook her head yes. "Thank you, for bringing her here, Miss Grey. I'll get to the bottom of things."

"I appreciate it, Marshal," said Miss Grey. "I have to get back to the school."

"Ruby, I'm disappointed right now," said Matt. "It's not like you to misbehave like that."

"Are you gonna make me take a nap in the jail?" Ruby asked.

"Why would I make you take a nap in the jail?" Matt inquired.

"Because I was bad and now you have to rest me," Ruby replied. "If I'm rested, I have to take a nap in the jail."

It took all of Matt's willpower not to laugh at his daughter's misinterpretation of being arrested. "It's arrested," Matt stressed. "It doesn't mean that people take naps in the jail. It just means they go to jail for doing something bad. To answer your question, I did not plan on putting you in jail."

"Can you put me in jail?" asked Ruby.

"You want me to put you in jail?" Matt wasn't quite sure why his daughter wanted to be put in jail. "Why?"

"I think it would be fun," Ruby answered.

Matt contemplated whether or not he should put Ruby in jail. Having fun is the last thing she should be doing right now. He needed to get some answers from her, but decided to wait until Kitty was also present. Speaking of Kitty, Matt had to make sure he stopped her before she went to the school to get Ruby.

"I guess if you want to sit in a jail cell, you can." Matt opened the door to the jail cells. "I'll let you pick your jail cell." Ruby picked the first cell. "I hope you realize that your momma 'n I are going to have a talk with you. I am upset that Miss Grey had to bring you here, 'n I know your momma's gonna be upset too." Matt turned to leave.

"Daddy, lock the jail and close that door," Ruby told her daddy. Without a word, Matt did as Ruby asked him.

Matt sat back down at the table and continued cleaning his gun. He kept an eye on the clock, so he could intercept Kitty before she went to the school. Matt knew that Kitty picked Ruby up from school at noon. He figured if he stepped outside between ten and five minutes until noon, he would catch her before she reached the school.

Festus walked out of the Long Branch in a better mood than he did when he walked in. He beat Sam in checkers two out of three times. It seemed as though his luck with checkers was back on track. Whistling as he walked down Front Street, Festus saw Kitty coming in the buggy.

"Howdy, Mizz Kitty," said Festus as Kitty approached him. "I reckon yer here ta pick up Mizz Ruby from school."

"I'm going ta pick her up right after I get a bushel of potatoes from Mr. Jonas," Kitty replied.

"There ain't no need ta go to the school. I seen Mizz Grey bring Mizz Ruby to the jail earlier," Festus pointed out.

Kitty put buying the potatoes on the back burner. Right now she was concerned with Ruby being at the jail and not being in school. It was time to investigate and find out why.

"Thank you, Festus," said Kitty as she drove the buggy towards the jail.

TBC

*Author's Note: This chapter was inspired by themarshalswoman09. She liked the idea of Ruby possibly getting in trouble at school and having her daddy have a talk with her.