Little Bobby and The Kindergarden Toys

Kindergarden Toys

Our story of little Bobby continues.
The place: Elementary School
The time: September 1938
The scene: Miss Everyboysdream kindergarden class

As the scene opens we find our shy little hero, standing calmly in the amidst of a flurry of activity, trying to make a long birch dowel fit into the hole in the centre of a wheel that was to be a part of a wooden push mobile.

Our hero, as short on patience as he was in stature, keeps trying to make the stick fit into the wheel, but the effort is beginning to show as the little fingers grow weary of the task.

The other children are running around laughing, screaming, making all sorts of very loud noises but our little hero continues in his to attempt to complete the seemingly impossible task of fitting the oversize dowel into the centre of the wheel. With the perseverance that only a well-disciplined child could possess, the little boy tries to shut out all the annoying distractions.

Busy, active bodies running and bumping into our little worker are getting on his nerves and the dowel absolutely refuses to go into the hole.

In a desperate move, little Bobby crams the stubborn dowel into the ill fitting hole, lifts the assembly over his head and with one swift move brings the whole thing crashing down on the tile covered concrete floor.

Of course, the birch dowel breaks into several pieces and the wooden wheel shatters with a tremendous sound that, to Bobby, sounds like the roar of thunder. All the other children stop running, stop playing, stop laughing. The room is silent. Bobby feels all eyes suddenly staring at him.

At that very instant the door to the room opens and the principal, Mr. Sternman, enters the room. As little Bobby watches, the principal approaches Miss Everyboysdream and engages her in a brief conversation.

The subject of the conversation, Bobby is sure, is about the evil little boy who broke the other children's toys. As he watches for any sign that he is about to be punished, Bobby carefully picks up the broken pieces and, as unobtrusively as possible, shoves the remains of the toy into a pile of other toys and moves away from the evidence of his violent temper.

Little Bobby carefully mingles with the other children while watching the teacher and principal. Their conversation ends. Mr Sternman winks at the teacher and turns and leaves the room. Miss Everyboysdream blushes slightly and turns her attention to the unusually quiet class.

Thinking that the class had overheard her exchange with Mr. Sternman, Miss Everyboysdream clumsily rearranges the papers on her desk and orders the class to pickup the toys and get ready for Story Time.

Bobby is sure now that he will be called into the principal's office to receive whatever punishment is to be administered to a child who breaks school property.

The rest of the day passes without anything remarkable happening. Bobby breathes a guarded sigh of relief. Maybe Miss Everyboysdream didn't see the toy swung in anger. Maybe Mr. Sternman was looking elsewhere when the toy shattered. Could it be that Bobby has gotten away with it? Or is a record of the event being entered into his permanent record at this very moment?

The days drift by, first grade, second grade, third grade. The event fades from our little hero's memory until one day 25 years later when little Bobby, Robert now, is called to the principal's office in a new school in a new town to discuss a discipline problem concerning little Bobby Jr.

Our hero knows how ridiculous his feeling of guilt is, but it is there anyway. In the dark recesses of his mind, the fear still lurks of that toy-smashing incident in his permanent record'. He is sure that at any moment his permanent record will be brought out and the one blemish on his record, the wanton destruction of school property, will be exposed. He will be embarrassed in front of his own son.

The brief meeting with the principal concerns only some minor infringement of some trivial school rule that Bobby Jr. broke on his way to becoming a normal adult.

The meeting draws to a conclusion without any mention of a permanent record. The father breathes a sigh of relief. Father and son make a hasty retreat to the local Dairy Queen where they share an ice cream sundae.