There was the playground. And the class. So many humans. Baartock had never seen that many humans. They were swinging, racing around, climbing, playing, and just standing. They were laughing and yelling and screaming. They were all having fun. Baartock was so interested, that he didn't see the woman coming over to them.
"Baartock, this is your teacher, Mrs. Stogbuchner," said Mrs. Jackson. "Mrs. Stogbuchner, this is Baartock. This is his first day, isn't it Baartock?"
"First day," said Baartock, still looking at the children.
"Nice to have you in my class, Baartock," said Mrs. Stogbuchner. "I'm sure you will enjoy it here."
"I'll come see that you get on the right bus to get home, Baartock," said Mrs. Jackson. "Why don't you go play. But, please behave yourself. I want to talk to Mrs. Stogbuchner for a moment."
Baartock started walking over to where the children were playing. He was thinking so many different things. It was his first day and he should be scaring people, and here were humans to scare. But there were just so many of them, all running and laughing and playing. Nobody was paying any attention to him. They weren't even looking at him. Baartock couldn't think of any way to scare anybody. This was all so new, and not the way it was supposed to be. He was suddenly scared. He didn't know what to do.
Baartock had been slowly walking by the fence that went around the playground. When he got to the jungle gym, he stopped and watched the three boys who were climbing on it. He wasn't quite sure why they were climbing and chasing each other, but they seemed to be having fun. Suddenly, Baartock jumped up on the bars and climbed up to the top. It was like climbing a tree, but it was different, too. He was just sitting there, looking around, when one of the boys, the one with red hair, climbed up beside him.
"Hi. I'm Jason. Are you new?"
"No, I'm Baartock," he said. He wouldn't want a dumb name like 'New'.
All the other children were about the same size as Baartock, but Jason was even bigger. He was trying to think what to say to this red haired boy.