Chapter 167 – Restarting School

Elizabeth went about her morning getting ready. It felt great to be back in the classroom after being off for over a week. She put a new list of vocabulary words on the board for both the younger and the older children. She had math as well, but there wasn't enough room. As much as she loved having her own space, she missed the two-sided chalkboard that was in the saloon. She wondered if they would be able to get another rolling one. She made a note to talk to Abigail and Frank. It wasn't a matter of money, but space.

After getting the vocabulary up on the board, Elizabeth went and pulled new readers for the new students. She also pulled several more workbooks and pencils. While she was in the store room, she quickly made a list of things that she thought that they could use. She knew that Dee hadn't sent the list off to Aunt Agatha yet. After writing the list and a note to Dee, Elizabeth went to greet the students. She opened the doors and stood just inside with her bell.

As the students came up, she greeted them. The new students were a little shy with her, but she smiled at them and welcomed them to her class. She waved to the parents that had brought their children. She saw several looks at the cadets and then her. Elizabeth wasn't going to say anything, but then changed her mind. She waved the parents closer and then held up her hand to wait a moment. Elizabeth turned to the students.

"Please settle down and I will be back in a moment." Elizabeth called.

Elizabeth then stepped out on the front steps and came down to almost the last step. She looked at the parents gathered.

"I want to assure you that your children are safe." Elizabeth said. "The cadets are here as a precaution. With us being just set outside of the other buildings, the Mounties in town felt it was best to have the cadets stand guard. Many of you may not have heard, but there is an escaped prisoner. They don't know if he is headed this way, but better safe than sorry. If you have additional questions, please direct them to the Sheriff Avery, Deputy Commissioner Delaney or Sergeant Jacobs."

Elizabeth saw several of the parents nod in agreement that it was better to be safe.

"Last thing." Elizabeth said. "I will not be here this afternoon, but Mrs Delaney and Miss Winters will have the children this afternoon and most afternoons this week. Corporal Thornton's mother will also be here when she gets back. Both Mrs Delaney and the other Mrs Thornton are retired teachers. Miss Winters may not be a teacher, but has several younger siblings who she helped with at home. Thank you, now it is time to get on with our day."

Elizabeth turned, went up the steps and pulled the doors shut.

As Elizabeth was getting school going and the guys were getting going on paperwork or helping Jack, the ladies at the cafe had already put in a lot of work. Abigail was up at five getting the cafe going. Ann came over at twenty after six. Elizabeth Rose and Patty were there by seven when all the cadets and Mounties were eating. Since Edwards had guard duty, it was Peters and Harvey who had to do the dishes that morning. They were still working on the dishes when Wynn came over. After the Mounties and Cadets ate, they opened to the regular customers and it was busy as some of the men who were working came over as well as all the lumberjacks. Abigail was glad for the extra help. She also had Clara until after the breakfast rush, but she also knew that Clara wanted to be done at the cafe soon. Abigail at least figured that without Mary Graves and Clara all day, she would be able to pay Ann.

They kept it easy and did pancakes and ham for the Mounties and Cadets. Abigail also had to get Cody and Becky going, so realized that the extra hands were exactly what she needed. That morning Abigail also realized that she was going to have to expand like Bill had talked about, especially as the town expanded. She knew that she was going to have to sit down and look at the books that week. She had a lot to figure out. She also knew that she might take Wynn up on his offer.

Things had finally slowed down by the time that Ann insisted that Abigail head over to the other office. With the Cadets doing the dishes and running for water, they had plenty of hands. Abigail went upstairs and sat on her bed for a moment to breathe before she went over to the office. She realized that she needed to expand and she needed help. That morning was just a taste of what was coming. Abigail appreciated the business, but felt so disconnected from it. Even Clara had made Cody and Becky lunch. Abigail also knew that it wasn't always going to be like that and she would find a routine, but right now there was so much to do. After a few moments of quiet and the ability to catch her breath, she headed downstairs and across the road.

Dee and Jacobs got back to town. Dee was headed to the mercantile and Jacobs to the office. He hoped that there was coffee on when he got there, otherwise he was going to have to go to the cafe. Dee had several wires to send out and he also needed to check in with headquarters. Jacobs waited until Dee was in the mercantile before going across the road.

When he walked in, Jacobs was glad that he could smell the coffee. He immediately went and got a cup before going and sitting at the table. He knew that Wynn would want to know how Jack was doing. He looked at Abigail who was working at her desk. He wondered how much he should say with her there. Jacobs didn't get the chance to say anything before Wynn handed him a stack of papers.

"Please read through that." Wynn said. "I know I am missing something, but I have read it four times and can't find what I am missing. Here are the questions."

Wynn handed him another sheet of paper. Jacobs started looking at the papers and took it as they would talk later.

"Abigail." Wynn said. "Do you only have Jenkins book for last year or do you have others as well?"

"I only have 1910." Abigail said.

"Will you please go get the rest back to 1903?" Wynn asked. "If Jenkins asked, just tell him I am personally reconciling what the audits have said as there have been three since 1903."

"Okay." Abigail said. "We are still missing the 1909 ledger, but I have all the rest back to 1901."

"Good." Wynn said. "Maybe there is something in Jenkins book from 1909. Don't say anything about not having that one. We are still hoping that it was sent to headquarters."

"Okay." Abigail said. "Anything else while I am out?"

"Some scones." Jacobs said. "If it is not too much trouble. I have already had a busy morning."

"I will run across the road and have Ann put a basket together." Abigail said. "Then I will go to the bank."

Wynn waited until Abigail was out the door and down the steps.

"The truth." Wynn said. "How is Jack?"

"Sore." Jacobs said. "I expected some increased soreness, but he has more than I expected. He did sound much better after the treatment this morning. I was also very clear with him that he wasn't out of the woods and it will take months to get back to full strength. I think I got through to him. I have also made a list and am having Dee wire a former colleague of my father. There are a number of things that I want in case we get to a worse case scenario. I have asked that he rush the items here. One of them being a vacuum aspirator and yes, Jack knows about that."

Wynn looked at Jacobs with a raised eyebrow.

"Like I told Jack." Jacobs said. "We are not at that point, but I want to be ready if we get there. I know how to do it and already warned Jack that it will be unpleasant if we get to that point."

"Let me know if there is anything else we need to get." Wynn said. "I can always call in a few favors."

"Some of the painkiller tea." Jacobs said. "The stuff that you got for Dee. I have a feeling that Jack is going to need it. He said he felt like he had been trampled by a herd of horses."

"I will have Dee send off for some more." Wynn said. "We should be able to get everything from Union City in the next day or so."

"Good." Jacobs said.

"Dee at the mercantile?" Wynn asked.

"Yes." Jacobs said. "He had several wires to send and wanted to check in with headquarters."

"Good." Wynn said. "I haven't checked messages this morning."

The two went back to work while they waited for Dee and Abigail to get back.

When Elizabeth got to the front of the room, she turned and looked at the students. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out as she counted the students. She realized that they might need to expand the school that summer.

"Welcome." Elizabeth said. "You are all fine where you are sitting for now, I may move a few of you around later. Before we get any further, the students who have been with me all year, your homework is due now. Please bring it up to me. I won't be accepting anything that is late. You will receive a zero on the work that has been assigned."

Elizabeth held up her basket as the children came forward to drop off their work they had.

"Thank you." Elizabeth said. "I will get these graded and back to you as soon as I can. We have a lot to cover. As you can see there are vocabulary words on the board. Please get your workbooks out and copy them down. To the new students, I will give you workbooks if you don't have them. How this works, you will write the words down and then at some point this week, you need to look the words up in one of the dictionaries in the classroom. You will write out the meaning of the word, part of speech and word origin. You will also be expected to know the spelling of the words for a test on Friday. For now, I just ask that you try the work and do what you can. Mrs Delaney, Miss Winters and the other Mrs Thornton will be working with you to help you catch up. So all I am asking is that you try to do the same things as the other kids your age. Now raise your hand if you need a workbook and/or a pencil."

Elizabeth handed out the items to those that needed it. She also handed out readers to the new students. Once that was done, she added a few things to the list she had made.

"Gabe." Elizabeth said. "Please come up here."

Gabe went and stood in front of Elizabeth.

"I need you to take this note to Constable Delaney at the mayor's office." Elizabeth said. "I expect you to be responsible enough to go straight there and straight back."

"Yes, Mrs Thornton." Gabe said.

Gabe took the folded note and headed out. Elizabeth turned her attention to the students. She assigned reading when they were done working on their words. She then went and sat with the little ones and talked to them for a few minutes. She told them what she expected of them.

"Opal, Andrew." Elizabeth said. "I expect you to help Odell and Wesley."

"You know my name." The boy said surprised.

"Yes." Elizabeth said. "I was given the names of all the new students. I might not know who is who of the older ones, but I do know that you are Odell. I am only guessing as you came with Opal and I know that you are living with her now."

Odell nodded. Elizabeth then turned and looked at Wesley.

"That would make you Wesley." Elizabeth said.

The boy nodded.

"I know that you have never been in school before." Elizabeth said. "But I am glad you are here. Please just try to do the other things that your group is doing. If you have questions or need something, raise your hand."

"Yes, ma'am." Wesley said.

"Good." Elizabeth said. "Now as I work with the older kids, I want you to work on your letters. Opal what was the last letter that I gave you guys."

"M." Opal said.

"Okay." Elizabeth said. "Then let's try to work on your N's and O's."

Elizabeth wrote a capital and lowercase n and o in each of their workbooks. She then wrote Odell and Wesley's names on another page.

"Work on the letters that I gave you." Elizabeth said. "When you are done with one page, I want you to work on your names. Opal and Andrew, I want you to try some of the words in your readers."

The children nodded and Elizabeth left them to work. She then went to work with the other students on some math. She also made a point of getting the name of each new student so she could put a face with the name. Once she had done that, she went back to the board and started to put the math on the board. It was a bit of a challenge with thirty-three kids in the classroom, but by mid-morning Elizabeth had found her stride and each different age group working on various things. She took the moment of quiet to sit down for a few moments. As Elizabeth sat at her desk, she made a few notes on her lessons and also on the note that she was leaving for her aunt and Patty.

By the time that Dee and Abigail got back to the office, Wynn had a list of more information and personnel that he wanted in Hope Valley. Abigail came back with a basket of goodies and a stack of ledgers. Dee had a stack of wires that he picked up. Once they were all settled again, Abigail looked at Wynn.

"How do you want me to do this?" Abigail said. "Move over, what do you want me to do?"

"Are you caught up on all the other town business first?" Wynn asked.

"Yes." Abigail said. "There are a few things, but I am waiting on information from Buxton and that should be here tomorrow."

"Okay." Wynn said. "Then I want you to go through the ledgers first. I want you to take both copies and compare them. I also want any payment to or from Pacific Northwest or Wilder. I want you to list when, how much and any notation made. I want a second list of any payment that you think is suspicious. Once you are done with a year, I will have Jacobs go through it if you are okay with that."

"Yes." Abigail said. "I am okay with it. We need to get ahead of this and I will take all the help I can get."

As they were talking, there was a knock at the door. Jacobs got up as he was the closest.

"Yes, Gabe." Jacobs said, opening the door.

"Mrs Thornton sent me with a note for Constable Delaney." Gabe said. "I am supposed to give it to him and go right back to school."

"Okay." Jacobs said. "Please come in."

Gabe stepped inside and Dee came over. Gabe handed him the note.

"Please remind Mrs Thornton that Will Walker is to come over here after school with his homework." Jacobs said.

"Yes, Sir." Gabe said.

"Gabe." Wynn said. "I might have a project for you later this week after school if it is okay with your mother. Also please check on Rip at some point today. He was sleeping on the jail porch."

"I will check on him after school." Gabe said. "Cody told me that he fed him this morning."

"Thank you." Wynn said. "Until you hear otherwise, I want you two to take responsibility for that."

"Yes, Sir." Gabe said. "I better get back."

"I will talk to you later." Wynn said.