The Tale of the Longer Recess

When I finished reading the last page of Heidi, I stood up and stretched, bumping my head against the plastic red slide. I stepped into the sunlight, shading my eyes with my hand. I squinted, searching for my classmates. Older children from the third grade dominated the playground, as usual, and most of them were chasing or being chased. I didn’t see my teacher, but I could spot Frank, a quiet boy from my class. If he was still playing, that meant my class hadn’t climbed the hill back to school yet.

I walked in circles, kicking bark chips and looking for my friends. Sweat dripped down my neck and I started breathing faster. I didn’t want to ask Frank where everyone had gone. But as the minutes crawled by, I knew that was my only option. I considered approaching a teacher I didn’t know, but the pit in my gut told me that I couldn’t betray Mrs. Welbourne by asking another teacher for help. Finally, I tapped Frank on the shoulder. He whipped around, and my heart stopped beating. Although he bore an uncanny resemblance to Frank, this boy was not Frank. Heat spread from my nose to the tips of my ears. “Um,” I swallowed. Not-Frank furrowed his eyebrows and raised one of them. “I’m sorry,” I said before backing away. Not-Frank rolled his eyes and ran after his friends. I retreated to my spot under the red slide, trying to keep the tears from spilling onto my cheeks. The unthinkable had happened. Mrs. Welbourne had forgotten about me. I shuddered to think how this would look to my classmates. They would think I had stolen a longer recess. If I explained to my classmates that it had only been a mistake, they would never ever believe me.

After rubbing the tears from my eyes, I stood up, bumping my head on the slide once more. I knew what I had to do. I picked a teacher standing in the corner of the playground, and I focused on walking towards her. Sorry, Mrs. Welbourne. I stepped on woodchips, and gravel, and the blacktop of the track. I took slow, deep breaths, and crossed my hands in front of me. All too soon, I was standing just in front of her. She didn’t look down at me, but continued scrutinizing the playground, no doubt keeping her eyes on the troublemakers. I cleared my throat. “Excuse me.”

She jumped a little, and looked down. “Hello, there,” she said, tilting her head. 

“Where is Mrs. Welbourne’s class?” I asked, standing as straight as I could. 

“Oh my, honey, your class went inside almost an hour ago,” she said after glancing at her watch. “Did you get lost?”

I wanted to roll my eyes. Obviously I didn’t get lost, obviously I had been abandoned. Obviously I knew exactly where I was. But I knew that one should never, under any circumstances, roll her eyes at a teacher. Instead, I shrugged. “They must have left without me.”

“Don’t worry honey, you’re alright now,” said the teacher, as if I hadn’t been alright before. “I’ll send someone with you to help you find your classroom.”

Before I could explain that I knew how to get back by myself, the teacher was already calling a student over. “Hannah, will you take this little girl back to Mrs. Welbourne’s classroom? She’s lost.” 

My stomach turned. Little girl. Lost. Now an older student would think I was incapable of finding my own classroom. But, being a second grader, and Hannah being a third grader, there was nothing I could do. Hannah pursed her lips and told the teacher not to worry, that she would get me to class right away. She turned to me and put her hands on her knees. “Come on, now.” I bristled at being called like a puppy, but I followed her. After the climb up the hill, we entered the school. To prove that I knew where to go, I skipped ahead. “No skipping in the halls,” Hannah said. I slowed to a walk, crossing my arms. 

After what seemed like ages, we arrived at my classroom. “You can go now,” I told Hannah, tapping my foot. She did, bouncing to make herself taller as she walked. I opened the door to find my class reading silently at their desks. I walked over to my teacher’s desk. “Here I am,” I whispered. Mrs. Welbourne looked up. “Oh,” she said. “Were you at recess that whole time?” I nodded. She shook her head. “You need to pay more attention.”

My face fell. “Yes, Mrs. Welbourne,” I said. I made my way to my seat, hanging my head. I thought about telling Mrs. Welbourne about the confusion of Not-Frank, but I assumed she wouldn’t understand. Spencer, who sat next to me, looked at me with big eyes. “Did you cheat and get more recess time?” I shook my head and shushed him. “Guys, Eliana got long recess!” Everyone turned to look at me, mouths open. I refused to look at them. “Quiet, Spencer,” said Mrs. Welbourne.

I opened my book, took a deep breath, and pretended to read. For the second time that day, tears threatened to fall.