November 10 – “Snake!”

Today we had one of those "never a dull moment" afternoons.  This morning was fairly serene.  The kids were tired, and several of them fell asleep.  One was out with pink eye.  Another left to help the vet tend to her horse (Yep.  We live in one of those small towns where you have to make allowances for stuff like that).  Another left early to accompany his mother somewhere.  It's fun not having to know where everyone is all the time.  The English classes were not quite as subdued as they were yesterday, but they were still no trouble.    The supervisor of the new building construction came in at one point and asked if I had a minute to talk.  Uh Oh.  Sure enough, he wanted to tell me that he had just killed a small rattlesnake over by the ramp to the new building.  He wanted to make sure the teachers knew to be especially careful.  I told some of the high school kids, and they immediately started talking about making the rattlesnake our school mascot.  Not a bad idea.   After lunch the new headmaster asked if we could talk privately in the office for a few minutes.  He closed the door and the noise level got gradually softer and softer until it disappeared altogether.  By the time we finished there wasn't a sound to be heard except for the scratch, scratch, scratch of one lone student at the keyboard.   The new headmaster and I headed out to look for them: in the bathroom, in the kitchen, in the nursery, outside under the new building, inside the new building, down the street.  They were nowhere to be found.  Until we walked back into the office room.  That's when I saw a brief glimpse of a white head.  That had to be one of the seniors.  All four were in hiding under the administrative assistant's desk.  I said, "Well, our options are to call the Jamaica Beach police or go back to my office and take a nap."  That woke someone up.  They got tickled, and as they laughed, they crawled out from under the desk.  It looked like one of those clown shows where they all crawl out of a tiny car.  We had a great laugh about that one.  So much so that the new headmaster decided to reward them with a walk to the park.    Psalms 1:1 says, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers."   Father, surround the walk of our kids with your protection.  Amen.