All the kids in Martha's six grade class were allowed to bring one toy with them to keep them occupied on the long bus ride to Awfulotasand National Park for a class fieldtrip. Martha chose to bring her stuffed koala bear which she had purchased on a family visit to a zoo on the coast. Most of the kids had brought along hand held video games, but Martha found those games to be rather boring. She preferred to either read or talk quietly with her friends and cuddle her cute, little koala bear. When Martha first got on the bus, one of her friends asked her, "What's that?" in reference to the stuffed bear.
"It's a koala bear. They live in Australia and eat nothing but eucalyptus leaves," explained Martha.
Martha's parents had allowed her to purchase one item from the souvenior shop at the zoo. They had just been on a tour of the zoo and Martha was most impressed by the koala bears up in the tall eucalyptus trees. She recalled that the koala's were picky eaters and that they would only eat the leaves of particular varieties of eucalyptus trees. For some reason, Martha found the sleepy, little koalas very interesting. She wished she could have one as a pet, but she got a stuffed toy one instead.
One of the boys on the bus noticed Martha reading and holding her bear at one point along the trip to Awfalotasand National Park and teased her about it. "Aw, isn't that a cute little toy bear. If I had some string I'd grab it away from you, tie it up, and drag it behind the bus!"
Martha recoiled slightly at this idea and held the bear more protectively than before.
One of Martha's friends said, "Don't worry, Barry is all talk. He just likes to sound tough. And besides, the teacher would bust him if he tried anything like that!"
Martha's class took the fieldtrip to Awfalotasand National Park in late October. The idea was to go during a time of year that wouldn't be too hot. Awfalotasand National Park was known to reach temperatures in excess of one hundred twenty degrees in the middle of the summer. Usually late October was a good time to visit the park, but on the particular day that Martha's class had their fieldtrip it was a little cool and breezy, but not so bad that they had to cancel the fieldtrip.
The children were instructed to leave all their belongings on the bus when they got to the parking lot of the museum and visitor's center at Awfalotasand National Park. They filed off the bus and were met by a ranger, all dressed up in his official park ranger uniform, that would serve as their tour guide. Martha tried to stand as near by the ranger as possible since the wind made it difficult to hear him from the back of the group. Also the most poorly behaved boys, like Barry, tried to hang out in the back and they were always playing annoying, little pranks.
The tour guide was an old guy of medium height, who was quite obese, balding, and who had a large mustache. He knew what he was talking about and he was a little bit funny, but, for the most part, he was boring. Martha stood next to him at one point during the tour and one of the boys in the back said, "Hey, look at Martha! She's about the size of one of his legs!" As the smallest girl in the class, Martha was often teased about her size. This didn't really bother her and sometimes she'd say things like "Weight is just a number!" or "Height is just a number!" but this time she didn't say anything and just tried to ignore the comment since she didn't want to interrupt the ranger leading the tour.
"Many years ago this area was inhabited by a local Native American tribe and if you look to the south you can see some of the houses on the reservation," said the ranger just before they entered the museum.
"What's a reservation?" asked a girl.
"Thanks for raising your hand and waiting to be called on," began the ranger. "A reservation is land which has been set aside for the Native Americans. They own and control six hundred and forty acres within the park," explained the ranger.
"Are they going to build a casino on it?" blurted out one of Barry's friends from the back of the group.
The ranger disapprovingly cleared his throat and said, "No, they do not have plans to build a casino."
"I think Roger asked that question because of all the news about Indian Gaming Casinos," said Martha's teacher whose name was Ms. Brewer.
"That's understandable," said the ranger and then he added, "But here in the park we use the term Native American since the local tribe considers the term you used to be offensive."
"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to be rude," said Ms. Brewer.
"It's quite understandable, many visitors to the park make that same mistake," said the ranger as the group began to file into the museum and out of the wind.
Inside the warm building, Martha unbuttoned her coat and was glad to be out of the wind. The ranger led the group to the first display and began telling all about the history of Awfalotasand National Park. He tried to use humor and he tried to be interesting, but he wasn't too good at either of these skills. In fact, Martha thought to herself that the best thing the ranger could do to improve the tour was to shorten it. Although her thoughts were somewhat critical, she did her best to appear interested and to listen to the ranger's presentation.
The boys in the back weren't nearly as polite.
"This has got to be the boringest fieldtrip ever," said one of Barry's friends as he folded a brochure, which he picked up on the way into the building, into a paper airplane.
"I could drink ten cups of coffee and this guy would still put me to sleep!" said another one of Barry's friends.
Ms. Brewer shushed the boys a couple of times, but they were pretty good at speaking only when the movement of the group made it hard to tell who was whispering.
At the end of the tour, Ms. Brewer thanked the ranger for being so well-organized and informative. It was true. He presented a lot of information in a very clear and well-structured manner. It was clear that Ms. Brewer had found the tour fascinating. Most of the students in Martha's class, on the other hand, were very bored and were quite happy to see the tour come to an end.
"Are there any questions before you go off to your next destination?" asked the ranger.
One of Barry's friends asked, "Is the tour over?" It was apparent that he was trying to be funny in a rude way.
Before the ranger could respond, Ms. Brewer said to the ranger, "Ignore that question. I'll have a talk with him later on." Then she added, addressing herself to the entire class, "Please raise your hand and wait to be called on before asking your question."
There was an awkward pause. No one had a hand raised and the ranger, who had anticipated lots of enthusiastic questions, seemed disappointed by the lack of response. He reluctantly said, "If there are no questions, then I guess that's it."
Two students raised their hands.
The ranger smiled and pointed to one of Martha's friends.
"Are there snakes and lizards still out or have they started hibernating already?"
The ranger explained that reptiles weren't too active at this time of year, but that it wasn't quite time for them to begin their winter hibernation. He added, "But on a day like today, I bet they feel like taking their long winter's nap!"
A couple more students raised their hands and the ranger answered their questions. After about four more questions, Barry whispered, kind of loudly, "I'm going to sa-lap the next dufis who asks a question!"
Both Ms. Brewer and the ranger noticed this and Ms. Brewer walked a few steps over to Barry, grabbed him by the loose cloth around the shoulder of his jacket and pulled him aside. The whole class, and the ranger, watched as she quickly scolded him.
After a moment, the ranger asked, "Does anyone have any other questions?"
Martha raised her hand and asked, "Do you have any eucalyptus trees in the park?"
"That's a very interesting question and your question could serve as an introduction to a whole slew of interesting topics," said the ranger with a hint of admiration.
"What's so good about that question?" whispered a boy in the back.
The ranger launched into his longest speech of the tour. He talked about endemics and non-native species of plants and animals. He talked about railroad lines and an unsuccessful attempt to use eucalyptus trees as a source of wood for railroad ties. He gave a quick description of the climate requirements of eucalyptus trees. After all that he asked Martha, "What is the source of your interest in eucalyptus trees?"
"I like koala bears and that's what they eat," said Martha.
"Very true. You'll make a brilliant scientist one day," said the ranger glowingly.
Three more students asked questions and received answers from the ranger. He answered each of these questions fully, but not nearly as enthusiastically as he had answered Martha's question about eucalyptus trees.
On the way back to the bus, Ms. Brewer complimented her for her question. Barry waited until the teacher was a few feet away and then he made fun of Martha by saying "I'm a koala bears and I eat eucalyptus leaves!" in a strange, whinny tone of voice while bobbing his head from side to side and making a funny face.
Martha replied, "You're too ugly to be a koala bear!"
The students around Martha laughed at Barry.
Barry desparately tried to think of a witty comeback. All he could come back with was "Is that the best you can do?"
"It was good enough to make you look stupid!" said one of the female students in the group.
"Better than anything you could come up with," said another girl in the group.
"You're all a bunch of idiots," said Barry.
A couple of his friends said, "Yeah!" in support of their friend.
Once all the students were back on the bus and order had been established, the bus drove them to Awfulotasand Sand Dunes where the class was scheduled to eat lunch and go on a short hike in the dunes. Barry and two of his friends were the last students to get off the bus. While no one was looking, they grabbed Martha's koala and Barry stuffed it in his jacket.
"I'll teach her to mess with me!" said Barry.
"Whatcha gonna do?" asked one of his friends.
"You'll see!" said Barry.
The other friends grinned in anticipation as they imagined what Barry's dastardly dead might be.
Outside the wind was just strong enough to whip up an occassional grain of sand. This made eating lunch a little unpleasant. Ms. Brewer talked to the bus driver about allowing the students to eat lunch on the bus, but the bus driver refused to allow this since there was a school policy against students eating on the bus. So, the students ate with their backs turned against the wind.
After lunch the students were divided into two groups for a little hike. Ms. Brewer and the bus driver both felt that it would be good for the kids to get a little exercise before the long bus ride back to town. Martha scrambled over to her teacher as soon as she saw Barry and his friends walk over toward the bus driver. She felt fortunate to be able to go on the hike without Barry or his friends along to harass her and her friends.
"Maybe they'll get bitten by a rattlesnake," said Martha's friend.
"If only we could be so lucky," said Martha under her breath.
"Or perhaps the abominable sandman will jump out of a sand dune and eat Barry and his buddies for lunch!" said Ms. Brewer.
Martha and her friends were delighted to hear their teacher say this. Ms. Brewer shared a smile with the girls and then added, "Don't tell anyone I said that!"
"Even the abominable sandman would probably spit those disgusting boys out," said Martha.
"Good point," said one of Martha's friends.
They all laughed.
After the hike the children all filed back onto the bus. Immediately, Martha discovered that her stuffed koala bear was missing. She sat down quietly and raised her hand and patiently waited to be noticed.
As soon as all the students were seated, Ms. Brewer said, "What's the problem Martha?"
"My stuffed koala bear is missing," said Martha.
The kids in the class all looked around at each other for clues about who had done what with Martha's stuffed koala.
"Have you looked under your seat for it?" asked Ms. Brewer.
"Yes, I've looked under my seat and under all the seats around here," said Martha.
"Alright then, class, everyone take a look around for the koala," said Ms. Brewer.
After several seconds of searching no one had found any sign of the missing koala.
One of Barry's friends said, "Maybe we should issue an amber alert." Amber alerts were used by law enforcement authorities to inform the public in the event of a child abduction.
"That's not funny," said the bus driver who was not happy about what she knew was going to happen next.
"Who knows what happened to Martha's koala?" asked Ms. Brewer.
One of Barry's friends raised his hand and before being called on said, "I don't!"
A few students laughed, but when the class saw the angry look on their teacher's face, they all stopped.
"Someone in this bus knows where the koala is and we're not going anywhere until someone tells me where it is," said Ms. Brewer as she looked primarily at Barry and his friends.
Barry and his friends all looked down at the floor of the bus and from time to time they looked at each other and grinned slightly.
"If I have to search every student on this bus, I will! Now someone better tell me where the koala is or else we're going to have class meetings during recess and lunch until we resolve this issue!" said Ms. Brewer.
No one in the class liked class meetings and there was a collective groan at the suggestion that they might have to endure a series of such meetings.
Ms. Brewer elaborated on her threat a few times and then finally a girl who had witnessed Barry and his friends bury the koala in the sand while on the hike raised her hand and explained what she had observed them do to Martha's stuffed koala bear.
"Thank-you, Edna, at least one student was brave enough to come forward and right this wrong," said Ms. Brewer.
Ms. Brewer and the busdriver had a quick little conference at this point. The bus driver insisted that they were already behind schedule and that they didn't have time to retrieve the stuffed toy. Ms. Brewer was just as adamint that they needed to go find the toy so the issue could be resolved immediately. Every student on the bus sat perfectly still so that although the bus driver and Ms. Brewer whispered, most of what they said was discernable to the class.
"It's probably ruined by the sand," said the bus driver.
"I'm sure the sand can be brushed off," said Ms. Brewer.
"Just have whoever took it, buy her a new one," said the bus driver.
"No, this must be taken care of now!" said Ms. Brewer.
"We need to stick to our schedule," said the bus driver.
"Alright as long as you're willing to go back there and explain to that little girl that we don't have time to find her stuffed koala, then I guess we can go!" said Ms. Brewer.
The bus driver said "Fine!" and stood up and walked down the isle toward Martha. Martha was quite upset and there was a tear on her cheek. When the bus driver laid her eyes on Martha she said, "Oh phoey! Go ahead! Go find the darn koala!"
Ms. Brewer asked, "Who knows exactly where the koala is buried?"
Five students raised their hands. Ms. Brewer picked these five students plus Martha and a few others to accompany her on a stuffed koala rescue mission.
The wind had become stronger in the last several minutes and it was now necessary to squint and shield the face with the hands. Ms. Brewer said to Martha, "Don't worry, Dear, we'll find your koala bear," as the group headed out into the sand dunes. There was some indecision along the way, but after about eight minutes one of the students in the group spotted a brown furry paw of the koala sticking up out of the sand. They ran over and pulled the koala out of the sand. One of the students carried the stuffed toy back to Martha who took it and hugged it gratefully. Then she shook the sand off it and said, "You're a little dirty, but at least you're back safe where you belong!"
Ms. Brewer patted Martha on the back and said, "I'm glad we found him for you!"
Martha kissed the face of her Koala and said, "You must have been so scared! I hope whoever took you gets punished for what he did to you!"
On the way back to the bus the five students who had seen Barry bury the koala told Ms. Brewer everything.
"He's so busted," said one of the students to Martha as they approached the bus.
The first thing Ms. Brewer did when she got on the bus was grab Barry and pull him to her seat. She said, "You have more than just a little explaining to do, young man!" Not only did Barry have to sit next to Ms. Brewer all the way back to town, but he served lunch and recess detention for the next four weeks. Martha was happy to have her favorite stuffed toy back and by the time the bus rolled back into the parking lot in front of the school all the grains of sand had fallen off and the stuffed koala was hardly any worse for the wear considering all it had been through.