5th Grade Freak-out

Chapter 6 – A Search Party

  Five minutes went by. Evelyn rushed to the headmistress’s table, almost in tears. “She hasn’t come, she hasn’t come!” babbled the anxious, kind Evelyn.

  The teacher Evelyn was talking to looked surprised. “Who? Who hasn’t come?” she asked. Evelyn realized that she was talking to Mrs Allens, and not Miss Caty.

  “Oh,” uttered Evelyn, flushing, embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Mrs Allens.”

  Evelyn found Miss Caty herself. “Miss – Miss Granger still has not come. Oh, please, please, let her be all right. I wouldn’t be able to bear it if anything has happened to her.”

  Miss Caty smiled comfortingly at the kind little Evelyn, thinking that she was one of the nicest and most sympathetic girls that had ever come to McJone’s Foundry School. “Come with me, child. I shall lead a search party for her, and you can leave dinner and come with me to find her.”

  Evelyn heaved a long sigh of relief. Now she wouldn’t have to sit glumly at her seat, waiting frantically for news of the poor Miss Granger. “Thank you, Miss Caty,” she said.

  “Ah – but have you had enough dinner?” asked Miss Caty.

  “Oh, yes, I have,” said Evelyn.

  Miss Caty wiped her mouth, got up, and went to the front of the hall. “Girls!” she hollered. “Girls! Miss Granger apparently has gone missing. Has anyone seen her during free time, before dinner? If so, please tell me.”

  Miss Kellie got up. “Oh, Miss Caty! I was out with Miss Granger during free time, and when I came back to the school, Miss Granger said she had to buy something else and would be back soon. So I left without her.”

  “You were down in Peterstown Lane, then?” asked Miss Caty.

  “Yes. We spent free time in Yvonne’s Stationery, buying stationery for our classes. She didn’t tell me what she still needed to buy,” said Miss Kellie.

  “Mrs Allens, Miss Kellie, Evelyn Bringham-Jones of the fifth grade and I will go and search for her, then,” announced Miss Caty. “Please go on with your meals. News will be brought to you later. Miss Linda, please maintain order in the hall. Bianca Helicon, Felecia Milestone and Harriet Johns, please maintain order in the fifth grade, as there is no teacher there.”

  The hall broke into loud chatter. Where could Miss Granger be? Why did Miss Caty single out Evelyn as the girl to accompany the search party?

  The search party went into every store in Peterstown Lane to check if Miss Granger was there. They questioned the managers of each store to see whether they knew anything about Miss Granger.

  Apparently, no one but Mrs Smyth from Yvonne’s Stationary had seen her – and Mrs Smyth of course had seen Miss Granger with Miss Kellie.

  Miss Caty turned to Evelyn. “Do you have any idea what Miss Granger went to get?”

  Evelyn thought hard, and then shook her head, her auburn hair flying wildly. The party hopelessly walked on. Then Evelyn cried, “Oh, Miss Caty! I might know where Miss Granger might be!”

  The three teachers halted and stared at Evelyn. Evelyn suddenly felt afraid to say what she thought, for it might be wrong, and these six questioning eyes would turn to accusing ones.

  “A guess doesn’t cause any harm,” said Miss Caty, kindly, reading Evelyn’s mind.

  “Well, this morning, Miss Granger found she had a freckle on her nose, and was awfully distressed. Alexis, my twin, suggested suncream and freckle remover, and Alice, my elder sister, said that Miss Granger could get those products at the pharmacy chain Kalvag. So, you see, Miss Granger might be at Kalvag!” said Evelyn, meekly.

  The three teachers looked at one another. What Evelyn said made sense.

  “Then – where is the closest Kalvag?” demanded Miss Kellie, kicking herself for not going with Miss Granger.

  “I – I don’t know, Miss Kellie,” stammered Evelyn. “And I’m afraid Miss Granger doesn’t know either.”

  “She has a GPS,” said Miss Kellie, at once. “She might have used that to try to track down the closest Kalvag. I have one too, same model, same settings. I’ve brought it out with me, and I can try to search for Kalvag too.”

  “Very well, then,” nodded Mrs Allens.

  Miss Kellie, who was a rather messy teacher, took a long time to fish out her GPS, and by the time she had finished her search, the others were wondering whether they had to stand there all night!

  “Look,” panted Miss Kellie, full of anxiety. “Look. I searched for Kalvag, Peterstown, and this showed up.” She handed the device to the headmistress.

  “The nearest one is on North Alley 4th,” observed the headmistress, distressed. “That’s not too far from Peterstown Lane, but the roads and such are complicated. Oh no – look, the store closed at 5. So Miss Granger isn’t in the store; she couldn’t be!”

  “Well, there are two ways of getting from here to North Alley 4th. So I propose that Miss Kellie and I go the way through the Mall, while Miss Caty and Evelyn go the way down Main Street,” suggested Mrs Allens. “Oh dear – I forgot to bring my phone. You brought yours, didn’t you, Miss Kellie?”

  Miss Kellie nodded. Mrs Allens gazed at the headmistress.

  “Yes, I’ve brought mine. We can contact you, and you can contact us,” said Miss Caty.

  “Well, I guess this is where maps pay off! I’ve always hated them, but I guess they’re useful in this situation,” groaned Mrs Allens, who taught English, and detested Math and Geography.

  “Right,” said Miss Caty. “Let’s go, Evelyn.”

  The party split into two, as planned. Evelyn and Miss Caty went along Main Street, going into every store, questioning every person, searching every shortcut and back alley.

  They went on without finding any traces of Miss Granger. They were already at North Alley 3rd…

  “No signs of her! No traces of her! No clues of her!” sobbed Evelyn.

  In addition to Evelyn’s wails, there was a loud, steady ringing noise. What was it?

  “Oh, my phone, my phone!” exclaimed Miss Caty. “Hello? Yes, you’ve found her? Unconscious? Okay, bring her to North Alley 3rd. We will wait in the 24-hour McDonald’s.”

  Five minutes later, three mistresses came to McDonald’s – Miss Kellie and Mrs Allen looking worried and distressed, and Miss Granger, unconscious, quite unconscious.

  “Oh, thank goodness we found her,” whispered Evelyn weakly. She was exhausted, and felt hot and bothered all around her.

  “You’ve tried to give her water, and it did not work?” said Miss Caty, questioning Miss Kellie and Mrs Allen. “I’ve learnt some nursing, and when a person is unconscious like this, it is best to give him or her a slap to help that person regain his or her senses.”

  Mrs Allen thought it below her dignity to slap anyone, whether it was a good deed or not. Miss Kellie frowned for a moment, and then sighed. She knew the headmistress would do it if she had to, but she much wished someone else would do it. And Evelyn had been in her class too – she knew Evelyn’s shy, meek nature. Apologetic little Evelyn would never agree to do it.

  Miss Kellie raised her hand, shut her eyes, and reluctantly slapped Miss Granger.

  “Oh, thank goodness, Miss Granger’s waking up!” exclaimed Evelyn. Sure enough, Miss Granger’s eyes slowly opened, and Miss Kellie gave her some water.

  “I…I wanted…wanted to buy that...skincare stuff…stuff from Kalvag…but…it was…was closed. I got…got lost…and fainted and…and I didn’t know…know anything until I…I woke just now,” said Miss Granger.

  Miss Caty smiled kindly at Miss Granger. “Rest a bit,” she said. “You’ll soon be under the nurse’s care.”

  “I can walk, Miss Caty, I feel much better now,” said Miss Granger.

  Miss Caty looked at her watch. Goodness gracious, it was nearly midnight! “We better get back now,” she said.

  Miss Kellie firmly took Miss Granger’s hand, and led her back to school. Miss Caty found that Evelyn had dropped off to sleep, so she carried Evelyn back. Mrs Allens followed.

  Miss Kelli
e brought Miss Granger to the nurse. “Fainted from exhaustion, I think. Nothing to worry about,” said the nurse, and tucked Miss Granger in a small bed.

  Miss Caty did not want to wake the other girls by bringing Evelyn back into her dormitory, so she tucked Evelyn inside a spare bed in the headmistress’s room! Evelyn stirred a little, but after a muffled word of thanks, the girl was asleep again. Miss Caty took a shower, and went to her own bed.

  The next morning, the students of the fifth grade, not aware that Evelyn had come back from her search and was tucked safely in the head’s own bedroom, talked all about it.

  Apparently, their worries all were gone when Evelyn arrived in the lesson after break. Miss Caty had let Evelyn sleep as late as eleven, for she was fully tired out from the expedition the night before.

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