The Joy of Christmas by Melody Carlson

Author:Melody Carlson [Carlson, Melody]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9781441213884
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2010-07-08T20:00:00+00:00

10

“Beth,” Anna said with surprise as she returned to her classroom, “you’re still here?”

The little girl nodded from where she was sitting quietly at her desk with her jacket on and her hands folded in front of her. But it was nearly four o’clock and the classroom had long since been vacated. “My grandma was supposed to pick me up,” she said. “But I think she forgot.” Beth had only been in Anna’s class for a few weeks now. There had been some undisclosed problem with her parents, and now, as Anna understood it, her paternal grandmother was taking care of her.

“Do you want me to call her for you?”

“The office lady tried already.”

“She’s not home?”

Beth shook her head, looking up with sad blue eyes. “Is it okay for me to stay here, Mrs. Jacobs?”

“Of course,” Anna said. “Maybe you’d like to help me.”

Beth brightened. “Sure. I love helping. What do you want me to do?”

Now Anna had to think quickly. “Well, it’s Friday,” she said. “That means the goldfish must be fed for the weekend. And you could check the water of the Christmas tree . . . we want to be sure that it doesn’t dry up before Monday.”

“Okay,” Beth said.

Anna thought of a few more tasks, and Beth turned out to be a good helper, but the clock was still ticking and Anna wasn’t sure what she should do about this seemingly forgotten child. “Does your grandmother have a cell phone?” Anna asked.

“Yes. But I can’t remember the number.”

“Oh.” Anna frowned. “How about other relatives? Aunts or uncles?”

“No . . .”

“How about your parents?” Now Anna suspected this wasn’t an option, but she was curious about Beth’s circumstances.

Beth just looked down at her feet and shrugged.

“Hmm . . .” Anna was ready to go home, but she couldn’t just abandon her student. “And Mrs. Scott tried all the numbers in your records.”

“It’s just my grandma’s phone number.”

“You don’t have an emergency number?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe we should check.” So Anna gathered up her things and Beth got her backpack, and they went to the office to discover that no one was there. In fact, it seemed that everyone except the janitor was gone now. Not that it was so unusual for this time of day, or for a Friday.

Anna knelt down to look at Beth. “Well, what do you think we should do?”

Beth shrugged and played with the zipper on her puffy pink jacket. “I dunno.”

“I could take you with me, and we could try to reach your grandmother.”

“Okay.” Beth looked up and smiled.

Still, Anna was unsure. In her eight years of teaching, she’d never taken a student home with her before, and she certainly didn’t want to be accused of kidnapping. “Let’s try your grandmother’s phone one more time first,” she said after they got into the car. Beth recited the number, and Anna used her cell phone to call. When she got an answering machine, she left a very clear and concise message, informing the woman of what she was doing and giving her phone numbers as well as her address.

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