A Happy Ending?

Once upon a time there was a teacher. This teacher decided to take a summer job working at a camp run in a school. She was teaching drama she knows nothing about songs and games. After the first day the teacher was tired, but thought she could make it through the next 18 days of camp.

Then came Tuesday.

On Tuesday there was a new camper. The teacher had heard about this camper. (We'll call him Little Darling.) Little Darling has some issues. The teacher had heard about Little Darling but had never worked with him before.

Little Darling happens to be in the teacher's least favorite age group. It is the one grade level she would never teach. The teacher tried to be positive about it.

She may or may not have said a few prayers during snack time.

Then it was time for Little Darling's groups to come to drama songs and games. The teacher very enthusiastically gathered the students on the stage.

Little Darling sat on the benches in the lunch room.

The teacher enthusiastically called Little Darling over to see the "special surprise."

Little Darling started hopping along the benches.

The teacher walked over to Little Darling and he decided to hide UNDER the tables.

Little Darling was much faster than the teacher. The teacher decided to ignore the behavior and focus on the other campers.

Then Little Darling discovered the ladder the janitor left up in the cafeteria. It went all the way to the ceiling. It was calling Little Darling's name.

The teacher decided to move the whole group next to the ladder so that she could keep Little Darling away while still going on with her lesson. She gathered the students and the materials.

As she started to hand out the puppets for "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," Little Darling stole the book she was planning to read.

The teacher gritted her teeth cheerfully said, "That's okay! I have it memorized!"

Little Darling was interested in the puppets. The teacher got the book back and even managed to move the group to the stage.

Then Little Darling got bored.

This time he went behind the curtains on the stage. The teacher could see his little feet climbing boxes and getting into mischief. She played chase shooed him away from danger more than once.

She called for back up more than once.

Eventually help arrived. A coworker spoke to Little Darling about the choices he was making. They left for about 20 minutes to have a talk about the choices he was making.

Little Darling returned. He apologized to the teacher and the class. He sat at a table with a marker and a "find the picture." The teacher's coworker felt things were under control and left.

Things went well for about 5 minutes. The teacher sang songs with the group and Little Darling looked for pictures.

Then he got bored. With a marker.

Once upon a time there was a teacher who had 17 days left of camp. She stopped at the store on the way home and bought an expensive pint of ice cream to recover from her day.

She is still hoping for a happy ending!