“I have the fog machine to rig up, a witch and broomstick to hang on this empty wall by the whiteboard, a life-sized model skeleton to assemble, and then I have all the activity stations.”
Gemma shook her head. “Are your kids going to learn anything tomorrow?”
“A little.” He shrugged. “The truth is that the next two days are lost causes. Halloween day, the kids are too excited to pay much attention to whatever I’m trying to teach them. It’ll go in one ear and out the other. The day after, the kids will be tired from staying up all night trick-or-treating.”
“Aren’t they a little old for trick-or-treating?”
“Not until they’re in high school. On average the last couple years, more than three-quarters of my class has gone out.”
She winced. “That does put you in a tight spot.”
“I wish the school district would schedule a half day on Halloween and cancel classes the day after. They could call it a staff development day and still have us teachers come in, but hey, what do I know.”
Gemma nodded. “Teachers are never given enough of a voice when it comes to making the important decisions. At least that’s what my mum always says. She taught A-level English literature for years.”
“I have mad respect for her. Is your dad a teacher too?”
“No. My dad struggled in school.” Gemma laughed. “He’s an electrician. How about your parents?”
“Dad runs a hardware shop in town. But my mom is like yours. She was a school librarian for Sequoia Valley High School until last year. Now she’s the volunteer librarian at the public library three days a week.” Tim’s eyes softened. “She’d probably still be working if the district hadn’t had such a budget shortfall.”
“Was she forced into retirement?”
“Yes and no.” Tim sighed. “Mom was told the school could only afford to keep one librarian on staff. She had the most seniority, so she had to choose who was let go. Mom being mom decided she didn’t want to be the reason anyone lost their job, so she took an early retirement.”
“Wow. She sounds like such a selfless person.”
“She is. Mom is my hero. She’s one of the major reasons I ended up becoming a teacher.”
“If our mums ever meet, I bet they’ll get on well. Once my mum finds a kindred spirit who loves books as much as her, she can talk their ear off for hours.”
Tim’s body shook with laughter. “What’s the old saying? Great minds think alike.”
Gemma’s gaze traveled to the box on his desk labeled “Biohazardous.” “What’s in there?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “The cauldron? I have some packets of candy in there.”
“No. The box.”
The lines on his forehead wrinkled. “Oh, that! It’s a bunch of owl pellets.”
“Are you bringing a live owl into your classroom too?” Gemma asked quizzically. “Where are you getting one?”
“No. The pellets aren’t food. They’re the regurgitated parts of an owl’s meal that its body can’t digest.”
Her brow furrowed. “Owl vomit?”
Tim’s cheeks colored. “I guess that’s what you’d technically call it.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
“That’s the day after Halloween’s lesson. The pellets contain things like bones, fur, claws, and teeth. I’m planning to have my kids dissect them for a science experiment and piece the bones of the animal back together on construction paper. Then they’ll write a short report on the experience.”
“Oh. That sounds like a fun hands-on activity.”
“The past two years, I’ve had my class work on it the day after Halloween. The students get excited because they’ve never really worked with bones before.”
She scooted back onto the bed, resting her back against the headboard. “Can the kids be trusted not to act out? I can just picture a couple of them getting rowdy and throwing pieces of the pellet at one another.”
