Raven's View

Trouble in the Playground

Mary was both embarrassed and angry. Her dear little Danny, suspended from school for a week. She looked up from the note that school had sent.

"Danny, how could you?" she said. 

He shrugged. "I dunno."

She blamed all the time travelling they'd done. Or at least, the double life they'd ended up living. She wished Dave were there for support, but her husband was still lost somewhere on the other side of the portal. Danny's door, she called it, since he was the one that had crawled through it as a baby, just after they had all moved into this new home. What seemed a large but ordinary doggie door turned out to be a portal to a world 500 years in the past, a world of forests, wild animals, and warriors. And magic. 

She did love Dave, being married to him, their new home, and especially the baby. However, after less than a year she was already looking for more to fill her days, for something to challenge her. She certainly found that through Danny's door. She would race through her shopping and housework before lunch, and then grab Danny and head through to another world, to spend the afternoon exploring and making new friends - him happy in his snuggly, her with one eye on her watch to make sure they were back in time to get dinner ready for Dave.  She looked at her hands and smiled. No longer were they the soft manicured hands of a suburban housewife, they were now tanned and callused, those of a hunter. Life had been changed into a series of exciting adventures for them, a life turned upside down when Dave stumbled on their secret, crept through the portal, and became lost. Now most of her time on the other side was dedicated to hunting for Dave, while those new friends looked after Danny. 

It seemed that while with those friends, Danny had been more than just babysat, he'd managed to also acquire a mixed bag of skills form them. What his minders lacked in science and technology, they more than made up with in woodlore. And, apparently, in spells. She had decided Danny needed to spend time in normal schools too, and he seemed to be fitting in. He got along OK with most of the kids, and did well with his letters and counting - Friar Brown had seen to that.  He was also more fit than the other students- probably from running through the woods with Sparks. However, today it looked like some of his skills weren't appreciated. 

"Can I watch some TV now?" said Danny.

"No, you can go to your room while I call your teacher. Apparently she called here when I was on the other side. Bring Sparks with you please, I don't want him sneaking off to hunt down another deer."

Sparks was becoming a problem too. He had started off as a quiet little Shih Tzu , but somehow, once on the other side, he would transform into their  protector – as a huge and ferocious Dire Wolf. Unfortunately, even though once they returned  he was again his original fluffy self, he still thought he was a fearsome creature, and acted like it. The neighbourhood dogs were all a  little confused, and a little afraid. 

"Go," she said. "I'll call you for supper."

After a very confusing phone call with a very concerned teacher, she called Danny back downstairs. 

"He's just a big bully," said Danny.

"Who dear?" she said. "This Bobby that the letter mentions?" 

"Yeah. So I had to show him," said Danny.

"Will the warts last?" she said. 

"I dunno," he said. 

"We'll get a counter-spell next time we visit the other side," she said. "In the meantime, no more magic. OK? And no more snares."

According to Danny's teacher, he – or someone – had used one of the teeter-totters as a peg snare, with weights on one end and a noose on the other end, carefully hidden in the sand. Quite well done too, from the sound of it, but his teacher was convinced one of the older kids had done it. At any rate, by the time the teachers came running to cut Bobby down, Danny had already added the warts and was just sitting on a nearby bench. 

She was going to have to have a serious talk about limits with him, and also have one with his 'other' teachers  about what subjects were appropriate for him. 

Soon, too, because next year he would be a little bigger, and a little smarter - and in Grade 1. 

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BTW - I was suspended from kindergarten for a week, early in the year. I had done enough crafts and blocks in playschool, and wanted to start real school - I was already reading by then. So, of course, I got bored, kicked the teacher, and was sent home for a week. Where I could read all I wanted ;-)