Mrs. Stogbuchner had walked over to the middle of the class and held up her hand. When they were quiet she started talking.
"Children. I'm very unhappy about what you did in there. What happened to Baartock could have been very serious. He could have been hurt badly. It wasn't funny. A fire alarm is very serious. Because you were laughing, you couldn't hear me, and I had to shout. When there's a fire alarm, I shouldn't have to shout, just as you shouldn't run. We are going to have to practice this again."
Chapter 10
When the 'all clear' bell sounded, which was just one very short ring of the bell, Mrs. Pangle led the class back inside. But they didn't stay inside for long. As soon as they had finished the worksheets, Mrs. Stogbuchner stood at the front of the room and announced, "This is a fire drill. Everyone line up quickly at the back door."
They all lined up and practiced the fire drill, and because Bobby Miller was talking, they had to practice it another time.
This time, except for the noise the chairs made, scraping the floor as the children got up, there wasn't a sound in the classroom. Mrs. Stogbuchner was finally satisfied.
"Now that's the way I want you to behave the next time we have a fire drill," she said.
The class had a very short recess, because they had taken so long practicing the fire drill. They didn't get to play dodge ball, and they mostly sat around talking. Except no-one would talk to Bobby Miller, and he sat by himself on a swing, not even swinging.
"What's dodge ball?" asked Baartock. He wanted to know, even if they weren't going to do it.