"Please wait here," she said, when they were in the office, and she went behind the counter and into another room. Ms. Laurence was busy at her desk. He heard her say something, but she wasn't looking at him.
"What?" he asked.
"I'll be with you in a minute, Baartock," she said, looking over at him. "I'm talking on the phone."
He watched her carefully. She was sitting in a chair and she kept looking at some papers on the desk, and it seemed as though she was talking to the thing she was holding in her hand.
Baartock walked over to the door and looked out. There wasn't anyone in the hall, and he could look out the open front doors at the line of school busses.
"Now, what can I do for you?" asked Ms. Laurence.
Baartock turned around. Ms. Laurence was standing at the counter. He was about to ask what a phone was, when the bell went off and Baartock jumped. Ms. Laurence smiled at him. "I used to hate that bell," she said, "but you do get used to it."
Suddenly, there was a lot of noise in the hall, and cries of 'No running!' The hall was rapidly filling with talking, pushing, hurrying children. Lots of them were bigger than Baartock. Some were carrying books. And all of them were trying to get out the front doors.
Mrs. Jackson came rushing out of the other room. "I'll be right with you Baartock," she said as she hurried out of the office and down the hall to the front of the building. He could hear her voice calling, "No running, Carlos!" and "The bus won't leave without you, Helen."
Baartock watched some of the kids from his class go out the door. Then there was Jason, going right past the office door.