Baartock | Page 6

seen that many humans. They were swinging, racing around, climbing, playing, and just standing. They were laughing and yelling and screaming. They were all having fun. Baartock was so interested, that he didn't see the woman coming over to them.
"Baartock, this is your teacher, Mrs. Stogbuchner," said Mrs. Jackson. "Mrs. Stogbuchner, this is Baartock. This is his first day, isn't it Baartock?"
"First day," said Baartock, still looking at the children.
"Nice to have you in my class, Baartock," said Mrs. Stogbuchner. "I'm sure you will enjoy it here."
"I'll come see that you get on the right bus to get home, Baartock," said Mrs. Jackson. "Why don't you go play. But, please behave yourself. I want to talk to Mrs. Stogbuchner for a moment."
Baartock started walking over to where the children were playing. He was thinking so many different things. It was his first day and he should be scaring people, and here were humans to scare. But there were just so many of them, all running and laughing and playing. Nobody was paying any attention to him. They weren't even looking at him. Baartock couldn't think of any way to scare anybody. This was all so new, and not the way it was supposed to be. He was suddenly scared. He didn't know what to do.
Baartock had been slowly walking by the fence that went around the playground. When he got to the jungle gym, he stopped and watched the three boys who were climbing on it. He wasn't quite sure why they were climbing and chasing each other, but they seemed to be having fun. Suddenly, Baartock jumped up on the bars and climbed up to the top. It was like climbing a tree, but it was different, too. He was just sitting there, looking around, when one of the boys, the one with red hair, climbed up beside him.
"Hi. I'm Jason. Are you new?"
"No, I'm Baartock," he said. He wouldn't want a dumb name like 'New'.
All the other children were about the same size as Baartock, but Jason was even bigger. He was trying to think what to say to this red haired boy.
Then Jason started to climb down again. When he was just a little way down, he called, "Try to catch me, Baartock!"
Baartock knew what to do. He started climbing down, chasing Jason as fast as he could. By now, Jason was on the ground, running past the swings. When Baartock got down, he started running. He ran past the swings, past the slide. He was catching up to Jason, he had almost caught him, when a there was a whistle and Jason stopped. Baartock crashed into him and they both fell down. Jason got on his feet right away.
"We've got to go in now," he said as he pulled Baartock to his feet. "We have to go line up. Come on."
Baartock didn't understand what they were going to do, but he walked along with Jason. As they walked over to where Mrs. Stogbuchner was standing, Baartock said, "I caught you."
"I can run faster," answered Jason. "Next time you won't."
Mrs. Stogbuchner again blew her whistle. "Recess is over. Time to go inside," she called. Then she saw Baartock and Jason. "Making friends already, Baartock? Jason, please let Baartock sit next to you and help him along today."
"Yes, Mrs. Stogbuchner," said Jason.
"Everybody settle down," called Mrs. Stogbuchner as she walked past the children, who were lining up.
"I'm supposed to be first today, right, Mrs. Stogbuchner?" called a boy from the front of the line.
"All right, Jimmy," she answered.
"There. I told you so," Jimmy said loudly to the girl standing next to him.
"Don't start a fight about it, Jimmy," said Mrs. Stogbuchner, who was now at the back of the line. "Let's walk inside quietly. No running!" she called, as Jimmy started rushing off.
In just a few minutes, Baartock found himself sitting right next to Jason, at one of the low tables in the classroom. Mrs. Stogbuchner, standing in front of the classroom was saying, "We have someone new in class." Everybody was looking around. "Baartock, please stand up. This is his first day."
Baartock stood up, but he was embarrassed. Now everybody knew this was his first day, he'd never be able to scare anybody. He was still standing, when Mrs. Stogbuchner said, "You may sit down now, Baartock."
Jason reached up and pulled Baartock back onto his chair. A couple of children at the next table were giggling, and several others were whispering something and pointing at him. Baartock felt uncomfortable. He wasn't really too interested in the papers that were passed around. But he got interested in making the marks on the paper, when Jason helped him color the worksheet. There were so many bright colors. He got so interested in coloring that he didn't pay any attention