The Error, by LittleMatt

Chapter 8
Chapter 8

Chapter Description: By LittleMatt

Chapter 8

Tom could hear his mother already up getting things ready for the day as he slowly came awake. He felt the still unfamiliar snug padding beneath his pajamas and recalled the previous day. As he reached down to feel the front of them he found himself dry and wondered how he’d come to even doubt it.

 The door slowly opened and his mother peeked in. “Good morning sweety, did you sleep OK?”

“Yeah I guess.”

“Good” she sat down as his bed “Still dry?”

“Of course” Tom said almost managing to sound like nothing else could have even crossed his mind.

“Good boy” she said softly ruffling his hair “I just wanted to explain a few things about today since there’s a lot of new things happening. I’m going to put some of your Pull-Ups in your backpack. When you get to school I want you to go to the office and give them to the nurse, she’ll keep them in a cabinet for you. After that one of the office ladies will show you where your new classroom is. Do you think you can handle that by yourself or do you want me to go with you?”

“Mom, that stuff is really simple. I’m not really some little kid. I can handle it.”

“Of course you’re a big boy” she said chucking him under the chin “I just want to make sure you’re comfortable with all these changes.”

“Thanks mom, but I’m sure I can do it on my own.”

“Just remember you can have the office call me if you need anything. Now get a shower and I’ll get your clothes out.” Tom grumbled to himself as he got out of bed. “And remember to put your Pull-Up in the pail.”

Seeing that she wasn’t going anywhere he got out of his PJs and dumped his training pants in the pail. He saw her watching closely to make sure it really was dry.

The shower gave him a rare few moments of privacy and independence. He had a small shower radio that hung from the nozzle. He turned the knob until he zeroed in on a faint and distant station playing something that sounded like what a teenager ought to be listening to. He closed his eyes and tried to take it all in. But somehow it seemed wrong, like something from a place he didn’t belong.

He turned off the shower, grabbed his towel, and returned to his room. He found his mother waiting for him with his new school clothes in her lap.

“I almost forgot” she said “The latches on these need to be done when you put them on too. It’s supposed to help more with neurological development. It’s not supposed to help as much in the later grades so they use a different kind.”

Tom stood in shock as she held out his Pull-Ups for him to step into. “You mean you’re going to get me dressed too?”

“It’s not a big deal honey, it’s just until you learn how to do it yourself.”

He sighed and put one foot and then another into his training pants and his mother soon had him in his brand new school uniform.

“You look nice” she smiled as she made a few adjustments.

Tom looked down at the hopelessly juvenile clothes he’d just been helped into and wondered what his friends back home would think. Even as a real third grader he’d never had been caught dead in short pants and suspenders. “I look like a baby” he complained.

“No you don’t. Those are perfectly fine clothes for a lit...” she cleared her throat “I mean big boy. You just have to get used to them, is all.”

Later that morning he was again dropped off at Kiddie Town Daycare. He slumped into his usual seat and glared at the floor. “Hey Tommy” shouted an excited voice.

He looked up and saw Johnny smiling at him once again. “How come you’re wearing one of the younger kid’s uniforms?” Johnny asked “And how come you never told me your name before?” He asked pointing at the name stitched in his shirt.

“I’m wearing this because... well because the teachers are all stupid. And I didn’t tell you my name because I don’t want to be friends with a big dumb baby.”

Johnny rolled his eyes “I was just asking some questions, jeez.”

Tom looked down again feeling a bit embarrassed by his outburst. He looked up again and saw Johnny walking back to rejoin his friends. He thought of spoking up again to apologize and almost did but held back. In time his bus came and took him to back Sunny Brook.

He walked into the office and up to the desk. “I’m supposed to give some stuff to the nurse and then I have to go to a... uh... different class room.” He explained.

“Oh you must be the boy whose going into the third grade. Tommy Welton right?”

Tom just nodded “Yes, could I just see the nurse and get this over with please?”

“I’m sure you’re excited to get to your new class dear, but there’s just a few things we need to do first” She took out a form from beneath her desk. “Now what is your P.A.T. Number?”

Tom look at her dumbfounded “I don’t even know what that is.”

“Oh a big boy like you must remember that.” She said expectantly.

Tom just shook his head.

“See if he has one of those big yellow cards” suggested one of the other secretaries “They usually give them to the Kindergarteners but he may have one too.”

“I don’t have one of those. Can’t we just do this later?” Tom pleaded.

“We can just skip that part for now” She looked further down the form “OK, are you a N.E.C.P student?”

Tom blinked “I don’t know what that is either.”

The secretary just shook her head a bit “That’s OK hon, we’ll just call your mother. She’ll know all this. Just go have a seat over there.” She said motioning to a row of seats behind him.

Tom sighed and sat down. His legs dangled from the enormous chair as his mom was called to take care of the process for him. He didn’t understand much of what they talked about except for the part about how cute he was in his uniform. After a few minutes she hung up the phone and walked over to him.

“There we go hon, all taken care of. Your mother asked me to make sure you didn’t forget about your pullups.”

Tom gasped a bit “She told you about that?”

She smiled bemusedly “It’s no big deal. Just hand them to me and I’ll take them over to Nurse Carlson.”

Tom sighed and tried as discreetly as he could to retrieve them from his backpack and hand them over. He watched as she went a short way down the hall and sat them down on a table just outside a door. “Debra” she called into the room “these diapers are for Tommy Welton. I’ll just leave them right here.”

She walked back over to him “Now let’s get you over to Mrs. Taylor’s class.”   

Tom trotted along behind her wondering if he’d even be able to make it as a third grader. Mrs. Taylor’s class was just getting underway when they came through the door. “Sorry we’re late, we had a few details to go over with his mom.” she explained.

“Oh you must be Tommy” the tall and slightly graying woman at the front of the class beamed “We were waiting for you. You can have your seat right next to Johnny and we’ll begin.”

Tom looked over at the empty seat right next to the kid he only knew as some persistent runt from the daycare. He took a breath and sat down. Johnny smiled and whispered “Hey, maybe we can be friends after all.” Tom just ignored him.

“Class this is Tommy Welton. He’s new here and I want you all to give him a good welcome. You’re in luck today Tommy. We’re going to be going over gravitational lensing which should be review from the second grade so you won’t have much catching up to for today.”

Tom could only stare as an elementary school teacher once again patiently explained concepts that he couldn’t even grasp, every now and then she’d jot some alien word on the blackboard. “Now” she said with one firm clap of her hands “I think we’re ready for a little pop quiz.”

As the children around him groaned in disappointment Tom began to panic. He didn’t want to be sent back any further but he was sure to be found out as having no idea what was going on now. As the quiz sheets were passed around the room he could only hope that it would at least be a true-false quiz. But when the pale blue sheet landed on the desk in front of him he didn’t even know where to begin. He sat, pencil in hand, frozen. While the teacher turned her back to help another student he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see Johnny discreetly tilting his already completed quiz toward him. He quickly jotted down the answers and sat down his pencil just before Mrs. Taylor turned back around.

The quizzes were collected and Mrs. Taylor went to her desk to grade them, instructing the class to begin reading chapter 9. Tom leaned over and whispered to Johnny “Thanks. You really saved my life. I’m sorry about being mean to you, I’m just sort having trouble with teachers and stuff.”

“No problem” Johnny whispered back “Wanna play at recess.”

Tom hesitated but he decided it might be for the best to just try and fit in. “Alright, I guess I can see what you guys do around here.

Johnny beamed “Cool.”

Once recess came Johnny led the way out a series of squares and circles painted on the blacktop. They were soon joined by two other boys Tom recognized from his new class. “Tommy, this is Scott and Kyle. We usually play Boxes and Circles at recess.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that” Tom said.

“Oh it’s really easy” Johnny said before launching into a long and intricate explanation.

“Oh OK” Tom said scratching his head. “I guess I can try to learn.”

“Great, just ask if you get confused we all play this a lot so we can help.”

Tom stepped into one of the squares as he was instructed and watched some of the initial play before the ball came bouncing his way. Thinking he’d gotten the hang of it he jumped to catch it.

“No catchies” explained Kyle “That’s minus five points for Tommy.”

The rest of recess went on in much the same way with Tom losing points and the other boys displaying obvious patience for their new playmate. By the time the bell rang he was far behind, despite his wounded pride he felt relieved to have finally had a little bit of fun and make friends. Even if he was being treated like an interloping little brother he felt like he was beginning to find a place here.

As he sat down at his desk he realized he’d been so focused on his game he hadn’t noticed his growing need to use the bathroom. It was nearly an hour and a half to lunch and he already very much needed to go. He hesitated at first but as the strain in his bladder grew and the clock slowed he raised his hand.

“Yes Tommy, do you have a question?” Mrs. Taylor said pausing her lecture.

“I really have to go to the bathroom.”Tom nearly begged.

She thought for a moment “We usually expect our students to tend to themselves during recess but I’ll let you go just this once.”

Tom thanked her and quickly walked to the door. Outside he began to run as fast as his overflowing bladder would allow but this time he didn’t even make it to the end of the hallway. He’d nearly forgotten abut his Pull-Up, now it was sodden and heavy, there was only enough dampness to remind him of his accident.

He paused and thought. If he went to the nurse right away everyone would surely know something was wrong, Mrs. Taylor might even ask what took him so long in front of everybody. He waited a reasonable amount of time and walked back to class.

When the lunch finally came he nearly sprang from his seat in his eagerness to get out of his clammy training pants. “Hey Tommy” called Johnny “Don’t you want to eat lunch with us?”

Tom turned back around “Oh yeah! I just have to do some... stuff first. I’ll see you guys in a few minutes.” Johnny just shrugged as Tom sped off to the office.

He paused at the nurses door. She was busy refreshing her supplies. She was obviously younger than most of the staff, though still very much an adult to Tom’s eyes. Tom stood and watched her. He struggled to find the words he needed to say. Before he could say a word she caught him at the edge of her vision and gave him a energetic smile “Hey there Tommy” She said bending down to face him at eye level.

 “Did you have another accident hon?” she said sympathetically.

“Yeah, kind of.”

She put a hand on his shoulder “Well let’s get you into something dry then.” She walked over to a drawer on the other side of the room, retrieved one of his Pull-Ups, and sat it down on the examination table.

“Do you need some help with those pants?” She asked.

Tom just nodded and she effortlessly undid them and pulled them down to his ankles. She began to help him out of his wet Pull-Ups. “Do you like the Cartoonimals?” She said noting the design.

“Huh?”

“You know The Cartoonimals. Cartoon animals. Lots of kids around here watch them every day.”

“Oh uh, my mom just sort of picked them out for me. I didn’t even know what they were.”

“Well they’re very cute” she said as she pulled out a fresh wipe.

“I do that myself” Tom interjected.

“I was just thinking I should talk to your mother about that” she said as she cleaned her new patient with expert care  “You’re already getting a little red. She might need to be a little more thorough.” she tossed the wipe into a nearby waste basket. “Don’t you feel better already.”

Tom nodded bashfully.

“I thought so” she said holding out the fresh pair of training pants.

She helped him back into his clothes. “There you go, all nice and dry.” She adjusted his suspenders and stood back up “Now don’t forget to come here as soon as you have an accident. I don’t want to have to come checking up on you.”

“Thanks. I will” Tom stammered.

“Now go play with you friends.” She shooed him out the door.

He rushed to join his friends at lunch. “Hey Tommy. You’re just in time” Johnny said “We were just talking about Hegelian dialectics. Scott says that negations come from outside the matter being discussed. I say that they’re inherent and internal. What do you think?”

Tom looked back and forth between them blankly. “I uh... agree with what you said” he nodded and said to Johnny.

He picked over his lunch while the others continued their discussion. He felt like a little kid at a grown-up dinner party.

As the afternoon wore on Tom couldn’t believe how much he had to catch up on just to be in the third grade. Hardly anything made sense to him. When class was finally dismissed he quickly began to gather his things so he could escape and at least have a  chance at enjoying the weekend. But Mrs. Taylor called him over to her desk.

“Tommy, I can’t help but notice you looked a little confused today. Are you having trouble keeping up with the class?”

“No, it’s just that there’s some new stuff here I didn’t learn before.”

She nodded “I thought that might be the case” she reached into a drawer beneath her desk “We usually use these in the lower grades but it might help.” She sat a brown teddy bear down on the desk. “This is an Interactive Learning Teddy” she explained “It comes loaded with some games to help you learn some of the more basic material. And it even plays lessons while you sleep. It’s very effective. I’ve already talked to your mother and told her all about it. She sounded very excited about trying it.”

Tom stared at the toy for a while. “Well I guess I can try” he said said resignedly. He picked it up and tried to put in his backpack but it wouldn’t fit. So he thanked his teacher and made is way to meet his mother, teddy bear clutched firmly in his hand.