Little House Lewd: Chapter 11

Tuesday did not go any better. Ruby did not know her spelling. She stood innocent as a kitten with her hands behind her back and explained, “I could not learn it, Teacher. You gave Tommy the speller.”

With effort Laura reminded herself to count to ten before responding. “So I did. You and Tommy may sit together to learn your spelling. Hold the pages up between you and you can study both lessons at the same time.”

Tommy only scooted over a tiny bit until Laura made him make room for Ruby to sit with him. They struggled silently to open the book wider on their own sides instead of making it equal, then would nudge or gripe at each other until Laura sharply reproved them. Though she gave them the entire morning, neither learned more than a word of their spelling lessons.

During history recitations Clarence knew nothing at all about the lesson.

“It’s no use to try to learn such a looooong lesson,” he told her,  grinning as she felt herself growing red with the frustration.

“If you do not want to learn then you are the loser here, Clarence. You said so yourself this is your last opportunity to get any schooling and you neither want to learn in regular school hours nor attend the extra lessons you requested yourself,” Laura said snappishly, barely holding back her tongue from really lashing out at him. “If you wish to be ignorant then that is on you.”

This turned his snide grin into an offended frown, and he opened his mouth to say something back, but changed his mind. They glared at each other for a moment longer before Laura assigned them another seven pages and sent them back to their seats.

Each slowly dragging day of that week was worse than the last. As they sat in their seats pretending to study she felt miserably that she was failing. Neither of her previous schools had been this taxing. Those students had all be small like Ruby and Tommy, but they had been well behaved and respectful.

By Thursday, she was convinced that this school was going to be a failure. Despite how well her first two were, this one was so bad that it would be her last. It was unimaginable that she would be able to get either another certificate or another school to teach. There was no hope that she would earn any more money unless she were able to get another sewing job in town. Mary would have to leave college, and that would be all Laura’s fault.

All this trouble is coming from Clarence, she thought dismally. He could easily make Ruby and Tommy behave as their older brother. The lessons were not even challenging for him; he could learn them if he wanted to. Charles clearly looked up to him and followed his lead. Martha was so obviously smitten with him that anything he did she would happily follow.

She caught Clarence glance at her with a sour frown, but quickly he looked back out the window.

“Third arithmetic class rise. Please pass to the front,” she called.

Clarence stood up quickly, and Charles slowly followed, but Martha half rose and fell back into her seat.

“OW!” she yelped.

Laura went quickly to her to find that Clarence had driven his knife through her braid and pinned it in a crack in his desk. He had done it so quietly that Martha hadn’t known until she tried to stand.

Loud cackling laughter erupted from the front of the room, and Laura saw Clarence doubled over laughing. He saw her looking at him and only laughed harder. Tommy started nervously to giggle, ruby tittered, and even Charles was smiling. Only Martha was not laughing. She was red faced, staring at the desktop with tears dripping down her cheeks.

Laura stared straight into Clarence’s eyes as her face twisted in fury. Not breaking eye contact she grasped the knife and wrenched it out of the desk so hard an enormous splinter came loose and flew across the room. She grasped the loosened blade in her other hand and snapped it the rest of the way off the handle with strength she didn’t know she even had.

The room was dead silent now. Laura marched up to Clarence, grabbed his hand, and dropped the destroyed knife there. His brown eyes were wide in his freckled face and made him look like the boy he had so recently been.

“Gather your things, students. School is dismissed,” she announced loudly, her tone eerily shrill.

There was not a single noise in the room as they all stared at her wide eyed. They looked at each other, and back at her.

“It’s only two o’clock, Teacher,” Tommy said in shock.

“None of the students here are trying to learn, so there is no point in wasting coal to heat this school house,” Laura replied sternly in that same shrill voice. Meanly, she was pleased to see Clarence face clearly showed he had not expected such a turn of events.

“Everyone go home.”

Clarence looked down at the knife pieces in his hand and looked back at her alarmed.

“Laura you’re bleeding!”

She whirled on him so quickly he flinched back several inches. “That’s Miss Ingalls to the likes of a student like you, if you even can be called one! If I am bleeding what business is it of yours? You didn’t care if Martha was cut by that stupid knife when you pinned her hair to your desk. Go home, and if you can’t be bothered to learn then do not come back!”

For a few moments none of them moved. He seemed incapable of doing anything more than gawking at her.

“Okay…” he said quietly, as if addressing a wild panther that had already tried to bite him. He motioned Tommy and Ruby to him and helped them get into their wraps while Charles did the same.

Laura went back to Martha’s desk. “Are you okay, Martha?”

The younger girl sniffled, wiped her face, and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. He had no right to tease you like that. Don’t worry about studying lessons for tomorrow, we will have to have a repeat of all today’s lessons,” Laura tried to sooth her.

When they had all left and she saw through the window that they were well on their ways, she sat down at her desk, laid down her head, and sobbed. She was sure now that she would be fired by morning and sent home.

It was a long time before Laura cried herself out. The coal in the heater had mostly burned itself out and the room was cold. Dejectedly, she bundled herself up to return to the Brewster’s shanty.

Her head ached as she went towards the hateful house. She could not be angry all the time, and there was no use of discipline if the pupils weren’t even learning. Ruby and Tommy were far behind in spelling, Martha could not add fractions, Charles struggled with everything, and Clarence was simply becoming a nightmare.

The thought of Clarence made her heart give a painful squeeze, but she did her best to push her feelings back. Clearly her feelings had been misplaced.

She expected one or all of the parents to show up that evening and demand that she be fired, but the evening went as it had all week. Her early return home was either not noticed at all or simply didn’t bear mentioning. She went about her usual routine depressedly, and did not even bring out her books to study. As soon as the dishes were washed she asked Mr. Brewster to take her to the latrine and went to bed.

Fortunately, he seemed to understand something was truly wrong with her and did not paw at her even when he took her alone to the restroom. She went to bed alone and lay there for a long long time unable to sleep. She was still awake when the Brewster’s came in to bed.

“I’m in the middle tonight,” Mrs. Brewster’s voice whispered in the dark. “The girl’s miserable enough without the threat of you groping at her in the middle of the night.”

Mr. Brewster offered no argument. Laura felt the other woman settle down beside her, and felt a relief she hadn't anticipated. A tightness loosened. Soon the covers were warmer with the heat of the extra bodies, and Laura was able to drop into the first decent sleep she had gotten all week.