The Rancher and the Girl Next Door. Jeannie Watt

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      “Not a lot,” Regan confessed. “The only one I know is Dylan, and he wasn’t bad as a fourth grader. He just needed a strong hand.”

      “Well, he didn’t get it.”

      “As to the zombie issue, you’re going to have to live with it.”

      “Meaning?”

      “It’s a control thing, and you can’t force them to be enthusiastic learners. But you can do what Will does when he trains a horse. If they show an appropriate response, reward them. If they act like zombies, ignore it and do your job.”

      “Kind of like the extinction theory?”

      “Pretty much.” Regan’s voice softened. “You do know you may have a power struggle for a while?”

      “I’m getting that idea.”

      “Stay consistent. Stay strong.”

      “I’ll be Hercules.”

      “You may have to be,” Regan said with a laugh. “Call any time you need moral support, all right?”

      “Are you sure you mean that?” Claire asked ironically. There was a time when she’d automatically called Regan before even thinking about a problem.

      “I mean it. Anytime.” A muffled voice sounded in the background. Regan laughed, then said, “Kylie wants you to promise to come watch her ride at the regional horse show and to wear something to impress her friends.”

      “Tell her I’ll get right on it.”

      Claire felt better for having called. She had no intention of crying on Regan’s shoulder every time something went wrong, but it was good to know she had backup if she needed it.

      “BEFORE WE START CLASS, there’s something I need to attend to,” Claire said as soon as the students were seated following the Pledge of Allegiance. Ashley was already smirking.

      “Yesterday I embarrassed Ashley, and I want to apologize for that.”

      The girl nodded, like a queen granting pardon to an offending subject.

      Claire hitched a hip onto the edge of her desk and swung her foot. “In order to avoid this happening in the future, I think I should explain some things to you as a class. I don’t want anyone to be embarrassed, but if I see you trying to hurt someone else, I will call you on it. It may embarrass you. It’s called a consequence. I don’t know how many of you have been following the latest developments in self-esteem studies…” The class stared at her blankly. “But the pendulum is swinging from the stroking of egos back to consequences for actions.”

      Rudy tentatively raised his hand.

      “Yes?”

      “Would you please translate that?”

      “If you do the crime, you’ll do the time.”

      A look of dawning awareness crossed ten faces. Ashley’s mouth flattened so much that Claire wondered if it would stay that way forever.

      “I’m not exactly stupid,” Claire continued. “I can tell when someone is trying to hurt someone else, and I will not put up with it. Any questions?” Several kids shook their heads. “Great. Please get out your math homework.”

      The fifth and sixth graders had their homework ready. One of the seventh graders had half of the assignment done. The remaining four older students had nothing.

      “Where’s your homework?” Claire asked.

      “I didn’t do it,” Dylan answered nonchalantly.

      “Any particular reason?”

      He shrugged. “Mr. Nelson never made us. Homework was just practice. It was the tests that counted.”

      “If we could pass the tests, he said we really didn’t have to do the homework,” Lexi chimed in.

      “And did you pass the tests?”

      “Yes,” the older kids said in unison.

      Which made Claire wonder if Mr. Nelson had even bothered to grade the tests. Because after looking at the math placement results from the day before, she was thinking these kids had either gotten a case of collective amnesia over the summer or they hadn’t learned the concepts in the first place.

      “Well, things have changed,” Claire said. “Homework is no longer optional. It is very much required. If you don’t do your homework and show me your work, you will not pass math.”

      The kids looked as if she’d just told them that lunch was canceled for the year.

      “But if we can pass the tests…”

      “I’m sorry,” Claire said pleasantly, “but this is not a negotiable issue.”

      “That’s not fair.”

      She simply smiled. “In order to be fair, I’ll let you do last night’s homework tonight. We’ll review today. Then, starting tomorrow, homework counts. Now, let’s see what you remember from yesterday.”

      It was another long day. With each lesson she taught, it became more and more apparent that these kids had some serious holes in their education.

      After school, Claire was sitting with her elbows planted on her desk, her forehead resting on her fingertips, pondering the situation, when she heard the door open. She shifted her hands to see Elena standing there, biting her lower lip.

      “Hi, Elena. What can I do for you?”

      “I forgot my math book.” The girl went to her desk and took out the book. She hesitated, then asked, “Are you feeling all right?”

      Claire smiled. “I’m fine. Just a little tired.” And discouraged.

      “We’ve never had a teacher that looked like you before,” the girl said shyly. “I like your shoes.”

      Claire smiled again. She liked her shoes, too. It had taken her most of the summer to find the shade of green that perfectly matched her skirt. “Thanks. Hey, can I ask you a question?”

      Elena nodded.

      “Do you understand the math?”

      “I do now.”

      “Did you yesterday?”

      She shook her head, her dark braids moving on her shoulders. “Today you went slower, and I think I got it.”

      “Thanks, Elena. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

      “See you, Miss Flynn.”

      So she needed to slow down. All right. She could do that. But it killed her to be reviewing multiplication facts and long division, when she was supposed to be moving on into other aspects of math.

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