Chapter 3—Tribulations
1
Anna lay snuggled against Callen. She wasn't happy to learn that Raisa was up to her old games.
"Upchuck, huh?" Anna asked. "That's a new one."
"I think she is running out of ideas," Callen replied. "Doesn't she have a class trip this week?"
"Yes. To the Petting Zoo—"
"But she's in third grade," Callen argued.
"So what?" Anna shot back. "I'm pretty sure they're studying animal movements and habitats now, and it doesn't matter. She isn't going."
"Isn't that a little rough?"
"Not at all. Callen, it's all about consequences. She told a blatant lie to her teacher, and later to us. What's your problem?"
He sat up and crossed his legs. "What are we going to do about it all?"
"I truly do not know, but maybe we need to talk to Dr. Michael and Dr. Peters again."
His eyes bugged open. "What?"
Anna sat up also. "Callen, we need professional help. There is a reason for it all, but I don't know what it is."
"Okay," he conceded. "When's the trip?"
She couldn't hide a smirk. "Tomorrow, but she isn't going back until Thursday."
2
Bright and early the next morning, Raisa was up and dressed before everyone else. She went down to the kitchen and fixed herself a bowl of cereal, and brought it into the dining room.
Callen came downstairs in his robe, and hastily tied it closed when he saw his daughter.
"What gives? Where are you going, Raisa?" he asked, turning on the coffee maker. He took a tiny ramekin from the cupboard, and counted out his pills and Anna's vitamins and set it aside.
"We have a class trip to the Petting Zoo today," she said, bringing her bowl to the sink.
He looked at her sternly. "But you are not going on that trip, baby. You can't go."
She started to cry. "Why not, Papa?"
"Raisa, you are grounded because you lied to all of us. To your teacher, to Mama, and to me. You know this already. Why are you asking?"
"But I want to go!"
"Maybe so, but you are not, and it is not open for discussion. Raisa, you messed up big time, and got caught in the act. We all know you pretended to be sick so you wouldn't have to do your Math work. Why?"
"Papa, I told you already. I don't do Math."
He glared at her. "Yes, you did, Raisa. You told us so much that you had to go back to third grade."
3
Anya blanched. She was annoyed because she hadn't had time to study for a pop quiz.
"Identify and label each highlighted part," said the instructions.
Anya stared blankly at her paper. There were ten questions and one bonus question.
Mr. Cohn paused by her desk. "Anya, look at your paper." He put his finger on a radius. "What is this called?"
"It's the radius," Anya replied.
"That's right," said the teacher. "Write it on the line over here." Then he pointed to a diameter. "Tell me this one."
"Is it a diameter?"
"Are you asking me or telling me?"
"Oh, God, Mr. Cohn," Anya whined. "I don't know."
"Okay. How about telling me if it's a chord or a diameter."
"Diameter."
"Then write it down."
She looked up at him, and smiled. "You sound like my dad."
4
Mr. Goldblatt was standing in his doorway, waiting for the speeders and the stragglers.
"Slow down, Ms. Kolcheck!" he said as Kira skidded into the classroom and to her seat.
"Not Kolcheck!" she yelled.
Mr. Goldblatt smiled at her, but with a smirk, too.
"You're letting him get away with that?" Tone asked her.
"Nope," she replied. "Let it go. I'll deal with it, Tone." She had her suspicions as to why Mr. Goldblatt had called her Kolcheck instead of Callen-Kolcheck, so she kept quiet and waited.
Mr. Goldblatt caught a few more students using a similar ploy, and he seemed to be pleased about it.
"Thank you all for coming on time," he began. He picked up a thin packet of paper. "This is your pop quiz…Never mind the noise," he said as the class groaned. "You have to describe what you saw or heard, and what happened after." He handed the papers to the students in the front row, and they had to pass them backward to the person behind them.
Mr. Goldblatt had set the papers up as if they were a lesson on DBQ's, even though there were no documents to compare or respond do. Kira thought it was great. She had learned the concept well when her father retaught it to her, so she was able to ace the worksheet. She sat smugly when she was finished because the teacher had done what she thought he would, even though it was in a different method than what she had expected.
He gave the class several more minutes, and then began to collect the papers.
"Get finished," he said, scanning the forms he had collected. He looked directly at Kira. "Well done, Ms. Callen-Kolcheck," he said, much to Tone's shock. "Mr. Parker, get done, please!"
A few minutes later, Tone brought his paper up to Mr. Goldblatt, then he sauntered back to his chair.
""What was the point of this?" Mr. Goldblatt asked.
Jerzy raised his hand. "To see how dumb we all are?"
Mr. Goldblatt didn't bat an eye. "Mr. Simmons, you will be staying after class for a bit today. In the meantime, the rest of you focus. What was the occurrence today?"
"Jerzy being a dumbass?" Tone said.
Again, Mr. Goldblatt didn't react except to tell the class that Tone would be staying after class also. "Anybody else?"
Kira raised her hand. "Mr. Goldblatt, it's consequences again, right?"
"Yes, Ms. Callen-Kolcheck. Consequences. What was the most obvious error to you?"
She frowned. "When you called me by part of my name," she replied. Some of the students looked at her funny.
"Well done. Try this. That was the Cause. What was the consequence, or Effect?"
"She got annoyed?" asked Pansy.
"Yes. Good job, Ms. Brighton. Try this: When Mr. Parker called out, what was the Effect?"
The class laughed. Kira raised her hand.
"That he may be having Detention or worse," she answered.
"Worse?!" Tone shrieked. "How can it be worse than Detention?"
The students laughed again.
Mr. Goldblatt held back a smirk. "Let's vote on this: Choose between Detention, loss of lunch, or loss of recess after lunch."
"You can't do that!" Jerzy hollered.
"Watch me," said Mr. Goldblatt.
5
Nikolai thumped Ms. Veronika on her leg. "Ms. 'Ronika, the pee felled on the floor."
"Oh, dear, Nikolai," she said. "You forgot to get up and go potty, didn't you?"
He nodded. He knew that playing toys was far more important than getting up to use the bathroom.
"Here's what we're going to do, Nikolai. You go get your box of clothes, and meet me in the Boy's bathroom."
"Yes, Ms. 'Ronika," Nikolai said sadly. He knew he would be in trouble at home because his parents had told him that he would lose his TV privileges if he had an accident at school again. He took his clothing box from his cubby and brought it to the bathroom.
Ms. Veronika was already there, sitting on a tiny chair.
"Take off your shoes, Nikolai," she said.
He sat down on the floor and pulled them off without untying the laces.
"Nikolai, what happened?" the teacher asked him.
"I don't know, Ms. 'Ronika. The pee used to be in my body and then it felled on the floor."
She smiled wide, but didn't laugh out loud. "I see," she said. She helped him slide his soggy pants down his legs. From his box, she took the plastic bag. "Now put your pants in this bag."
Nikolai shook his head. "They gots pee on them."
"Yes, they do," Ms. Veronika agreed. "When you get pee on your clothes, you have to put them in your bag to take home so your mom can wash them for you."
"Oh," he said, making a face and picking up the sodden clothing with his pincers. She waggled the bag so that the pants would drop in with no mishaps. "Good job, Nikolai," she praised. "Now put your briefs in, too."
His briefs were soaked, and he did not want to handle them.
"Put them in the bag, Nikolai," instructed Ms. Veronika.
He began to cry. "But they gots pee on them."
"Nikolai, put your briefs in the bag right now. If you had peed in the toilet like you're supposed to, they wouldn't have pee on them. Okay?" She held the bag for him.
"Okay, Ms. 'Ronika." Holding the wet underpants with his nails, he dropped them in the plastic bag.
She felt his socks. "Socks, too, please."
He sat down on the floor again and pulled his socks off and dropped them in the bag.
Ms. Veronika tied the bag closed. Then she pulled his briefs from the box, and held them for him while he put his feet through the legs. Then she helped him with his pants, which were followed by his socks. After, she untied his sneakers and wiggled them onto his feet.
"Nikolai, if you pee yourself again, you will have to take off all the pee clothes by yourself, and get dressed by yourself. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Ms. 'Ronika," he said, sounding like the world had caved in on him.
She picked up the box and the kiddy chair. "I need your help to clean up the pee puddle, please."
They put his clothing box into his bookbag and then she handed him a wad of paper towels to drop onto the she sent him off to play, and asked her assistant to finish the clean up.
6
Ms. Horvath used her break period to read the file on Raisa's antics and attitudes from the year before. She noticed that her only problem or discrepancy was in Math. Otherwise, she was a Straight A student all the way through.
"Raisa, will you come up to my desk, please?" she asked.
"Sure, Teacher." Raisa walked right up to the desk.
"Stand over here by me," Ms. Horvath added. "What's going on, Raisa? You already went to third grade, so why did you come back?"
"'Cause I like it."
"Oh, no," said Ms. Horvath. "Try again. Nobody likes to repeat a grade."
"I do."
"Raisa Callen-Kolcheck! Try again."
The little girl leaned close to her teacher. "I don't do Math," she whispered.
"Why on earth not?"
"I don't like it, and it's too hard for me."
Ms. Horvath studied her for a few minutes. She noticed that Raisa's expression was off from what it should be with a discussion with the teacher.
"I see. Well, Raisa, you cannot get out of doing Math in third grade. You will have to go to Extra Help every morning except Mondays."
"Extra Help? Isn't that for dummies?"
Ms. Horvath wasn't playing the game. If anything, she planned on putting a permanent end to it.
"You tell me."
"I don't want to go to the dummy class!"
Ms. Horvath stared her down. "Then do something about it!"
7
Anya still didn't like Geometry, but she had fun bisecting angles with her compass and protractor.
"Take your straightedge and draw an angle whose sides are four inches long," said Mr. Cohn. "Then bisect it." He walked around the class to make sure everyone understood what he had said.
"Good work, everybody," he continued. "I'm going to write a list of terms on the board, and I want you to draw the proper images for each one." Then he wrote the names of every type of angle and triangle he could think of.
Anya drew a grid on her paper, although she didn't need to. Then she copied each word into one box, and sat there with her chin in her hands.
Mr. Cohn noticed, but he left her to her own devices. He knew that she knew the information, and hoped she'd come through.
8
During her lunch break, Ms. Horvath called Anna, and explained what was going on. The mother wasn't thrilled, nor was she surprised. Between them, they completed a plan of action. The teacher was to send home all of the assignments and worksheets that Raisa hadn't done, to be completed by the end of the weekend. Then she was on trial for two weeks. If she couldn't pass her assignments, then she had to attend Extra Help. Anna was fine with it, and she asked Ms. Horvath to send the packet home with Nikolai.
9
"Anna, what is all this?" Callen asked later that evening.
She smirked. "This time, it's the inside of Nikolai's bag."
"Excuse me? What?"
She laughed. "I dumped out Nikolai's bag. The packet is from Ms. Horvath."
Callen frowned. "Say what? What'd she do now?"
Anna shrugged. "Callen, she hasn't done anything." Her eyes twinkled.
"Anna…" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
She laughed at him. "Callen, she hasn't done anything. No work at all. Same old excuses."
"Really?"
"Yes. Ms. Horvath called me today, and filled me in on everything. If Raisa doesn't get her act together, she'll have to attend the Extra Help classes in the mornings before class."
"Oh, brother!" the exasperated father gasped. "When does all this start?"
"In two weeks, if she doesn't hold it together. The class starts at seven-thirty, and lasts for an hour. No Mondays."
"Thank God for small favors?" he quipped. "Do you want to drive her over in the morning?"
"Not really, but I will. That way, we won't have to disturb the other kids' routines."
He nodded. "Thanks, Anna." He leaned over to kiss her.
10
The following evening, the kids were called to the dining room for a Family Meeting.
"Again?" griped Kira.
"Yep," said her father. "Sit still, please, Kira."
"Guys," Anna said. "A couple of you are having troubles with things. Here's the solution: Nikolai, if you pee yourself in school again, you'll have to wear pull-ups for a week. Last night, you missed your TV shows. And Raisa, you've been messing up on purpose again. You told Ms. Horvath that you had to upchuck. We all know that wasn't true. You got a very stiff grounding from it, too. You could not go on your class trip because you lied."
Anya looked at Kira. "She lied?"
Kira nodded quickly, but she kept quiet.
"Raisa, you haven't been doing your Math at school, or at home," Callen said. Here's your solution: This weekend, you will complete all of the missed schoolwork, or you'll be grounded for as many days as you have papers to do."
"That's not fair!" she objected.
Callen glared at her. "You're right, Raisa. It isn't fair. All of the other kids do their work on time, including homework, except you. That has to change.
"You have two weeks to get your attitude fixed, or you will be attending the Extra Help cla—"
"NOOOOOO!" she screamed. "THAT CLASS IS FOR DUMMIES!"
"Then why won't you do your work? Not doing your work IS dumb, Raisa, and you're not dumb," her mother said quietly.
"YES, I AM!" Raisa contradicted. "Everybody says so, so it must be true!"
"What everybody?" Callen asked.
"EVERYBODY!"
11
The family sat quietly for several minutes, until Raisa had calmed down.
"Raisa, you are not allowed to talk to us like that. None of you kids are. If you have something to say, then say it in a normal voice," Anna said. "Save the screaming for when you're out on the playground."
"No!" Raisa objected. "No, and No, and No."
"And no playtime after school for the rest of this week, and all of next week," said her father.
Kira raised her hand, but didn't speak until her father acknowledged her.
"Raisa, why do you want to be grounded for forever?" she asked.
"I don't!" Raisa barked at her sister.
Anya raised her hand, too. Anna nodded at her.
"Who tells you you're dumb, Raisa? Don't say 'everybody.' Say some people," she said.
"Ursie, Magda, Jorge, Michael, Philip, Daisy, Olivia—"
Kira frowned. "Aren't Ursie and Magda your friends?"
"Yeah," Raisa said, "but they help."
"What are you saying, Raisa?!" Callen asked. His mind went into overdrive. "Are they bullying you?"