He was working hard, and had just finished the first page, when the bell rang. He started to jump up, but the table was in the way, and he fell over backwards. The bell just went on ringing.
"Boys and girls. Line up at the back door," Mrs. Stogbuchner called to the laughing children. Mrs. Pangle rushed over to help Baartock up off the floor. He wasn't hurt, only surprised. And the bell just kept on ringing.
"Children!" Mrs. Stogbuchner had to shout. "Pay attention. This is a fire drill. Just leave everything and line up. Now! Mrs. Pangle, is he all right? Good. Then will you lead the class out onto the playground? Over by the fence. I'll be right along." She went over to turn off the lights and make sure that the door and windows were closed.
The children were still laughing as they went out the door. Baartock and Mrs. Stogbuchner were the last ones out.
"Are you all right, Baartock? You didn't hurt yourself?" she asked.
"Not hurt," he said. The bell was still ringing, even though all the children in the school seemed to be lined up in the playground. "What you call this?"
"When the bell rings like that it is a fire alarm. If someone discovers a fire, they sound that bell. Then you are supposed to get out of the building as quickly and safely as possible. You aren't supposed to run or fall down. Then the firemen would come to put out the fire. It's called a fire drill."
It didn't seem like a fire drill to him. "Where fire?" he asked. Right then the school bell finally stopped ringing.
"There wasn't a real fire," she answered. "It's so you would know what to do if there were a real fire."
The whole thing seemed a little silly to Baartock. He knew all about fire. His mother cooked over a fire. He had to help bring in kindling and small logs for the fire. There wasn't very much in the school to burn. It wasn't much of a fire drill. There wasn't any fire.