Starting School

by Johanna Hurwitz

  “No. Me. I’m the lucky one,” Marcus insisted. “Ms. Boscobel knows everything your teacher knows, and she smells good, too. She smells like flowers.”

  “It would be better if she smelled like chocolate,” Marius responded. “If you came to my class, you’d see it’s better than yours,” he told his brother.

  “I don’t believe you,” Marcus responded. He thought for a moment. “Do you think Mrs. Greenstein is worrying about where you are right now?” he asked. “I know Ms. Boscobel is very lonely for me.”

  “I know Mrs. Greenstein is very sad that I’m not at school,” Marius said. “If you were in my class, you’d see I’m right.”

  And that’s how the idea came to him. He leaned over to Marcus and whispered a plan.

  “Is everything all right now?” the secretary asked the twins when she finished speaking to Lucas.

  “Yep. Everything’s fine,” Lucas answered for them.

  The secretary gave each of the boys a piece of paper. “Present this to your teachers,” she told them.

  The three boys went out into the hallway. “Okay. Go off to your classrooms right now. I’ll see you this afternoon,” Lucas said. He watched as Marcus and Marius headed toward the kindergarten rooms.

  The twins smiled at each other as they walked. No one had ever told the boys that they couldn’t pretend to be each other. And people confused their identities all the time. So what would be wrong if one morning Marius pretended to be Marcus, while Marcus pretended to be Marius? That way they would know once and for all which was the best kindergarten teacher and which was the best kindergarten class.

  8

  WHO'S WHO?

  Marius ran toward Ms. Boscobel’s classroom. To his surprise, instead of Ms. Boscobel, he found his own teacher, Mrs. Greenstein, in the room.

  “What are you doing here?” he demanded to know.

  “Good morning, Marcus,” Mrs. Greenstein greeted him, taking the late pass out of his hand. She didn’t know the names of all the other students in her colleague’s class, but there was no difficulty in recognizing Marius’s brother.

  “I’m glad to see you made it. I was beginning to think you were absent today.”

  “No, I’m here,” Marius said. “But why are you here?”

  “Ms. Boscobel and I are spending a little time in each other’s classrooms this morning,” the teacher explained. “Now, why don’t you go hang up your backpack in your cubby and sit on the rug?” Marius wrinkled his nose as he walked into the classroom. How was he going to find out about Ms. Boscobel if Mrs. Greenstein was here in her place? He’d better go back to his regular kindergarten. That’s where he’d find Ms. Boscobel.

  Marius turned around and started out the door. But Mrs. Greenstein caught him by the sleeve. “Didn’t you hear what I told you?” she said.

  “Yeah,” Marius agreed. “But I belong in the other classroom.”

  “Marcus,” said Mrs. Greenstein in a slow, calm voice. “I know it seems strange to you that your regular teacher isn’t here this morning. But I promise you, she’ll be back before you know it. In the meantime, I want you to sit down with all your classmates and not to worry about who is teaching your class.”

  “I’m not Marcus,” Marius said. “So I should go to the other room.”

  “Marcus,” said Mrs. Greenstein, her voice rising ever so slightly. “I know perfectly well that you are not Marius. Don’t forget that Marius has been in my class for a full month.”

  “But I am Marius,” protested Marius.

  “Marcus,” said Mrs. Greenstein. By now her voice was decidedly louder. “Go and sit down. Now.”

  “Come on, Marcus,” said Jordan. “Sit next to me.”

  “I’m not Marcus,” Marius said to his brother’s classmate. “Can’t you tell that I’m Marius?”

  “Of course not,” said Jordan. “I can’t tell who you are. I just know that if you’re in my class, you’re Marcus. That’s the same shirt you wore last week.”

  Marius looked down at his shirt. He and his brother wore the same size and so all their clothing was exchanged between them. Then he remembered something. “Look behind my ear,” he said, pushing his hair away and tugging on his right ear. “Do you see the freckle there?”

  “Yep,” said Jordan.

  “That proves that I’m Marius. Marcus doesn’t have a freckle behind his ear.”

  “I never looked behind your ear before. And I never looked behind your brother’s ear, either,” said Jordan. “Besides, it doesn’t matter about freckles.” The two boys sat down on the carpet.

  “Hi, Marcus,” Amy and Kimberly said together. Kimberly was trying to braid Amy’s hair.

  “He says he’s Marius today,” Jordan told the girls.

  “That’s a good game,” Amy said. “I’ll be Kimberly today,” she announced.

  “And I’m Amy,” shouted Kimberly. “I like this game.”

  Marius was going to continue arguing, but he realized that without Marcus next to him, he had no way to prove that he wasn’t Marcus himself. He decided that if he couldn’t get to know Ms. Boscobel, at least he could check out her classroom. He looked around. The windows were in different locations and the view from them was not the same as it was from his classroom, but otherwise, this kindergarten room looked almost identical to his room across the hall. And even though Mrs. Greenstein’s room was supposed to smell like mice, he thought this room smelled the same way. He guessed there were mice hiding behind the wails of this room, too. He got up from the carpet and went to look under the radiator. He’d just about given up ever seeing a mouse in Mrs. Greenstein’s room, but maybe he’d be luckier here.

  “Marcus. What do you think you’re doing?” Mrs. Greenstein called out.

  Marius didn’t bother correcting her about his name. She wouldn’t have believed him anyhow. But he did tell her what he’d been doing.

  “There are no mice in this room,” she said in an angry voice. “I don’t know why you and your brother are so obsessed with rodents, anyway. Now sit down. We’re going to all sing a song together.” “I can sing from here,” observed Marius.

  “No, you can’t,” said Mrs. Greenstein. She was beginning to see why Ms. Boscobel found Marcus so difficult. At this point in the school year, she shouldn’t have to argue with him about following directions. Perhaps Marcus was the more difficult of the twins after all, she conceded to herself.

  “Mrs. Greenstein?” Marius called out. “If I sing the song, can I give myself a big pat on the back?”

  Meanwhile, across the hall in Mrs. Greenstein’s class, things weren’t going so well either. Ms. Boscobel sat inside the room and smiled at each of the youngsters as they entered the classroom.

  “I’m going to be your teacher, just for a little while this morning,” she explained.

  “Is Mrs. Greenstein sick?” asked one of the Jessicas.

  “I saw her. She didn’t look sick to me,” said Eric.

  “No. No. She’s not sick. But she’s teaching my students for a short time this morning while I’m here with you.”

  Ms. Boscobel looked about. She didn’t see Marcus’s twin brother anywhere.

  “Hang up your jackets and sit on the rug,” Ms. Boscobel instructed the children.

  It took a few minutes, but eventually everyone was sitting down. Just at that moment, Marcus Cott walked into the room.

  “Hi, Ms. Boscobel,” he shouted, handing her his late pass. “What are you doing in here?”

  “Good morning, Marius,” Ms. Boscobel said, returning the greeting. And she explained once again the mystery of her presence in Mrs. Greenstein’s classroom. “It’s just for a little while, Marius,” she reassured him.

  “Don’t you know me yet?” Marcus asked her when he heard her call him by his brother’s name again. “I’m Marcus, not Marius. So I better get back to my own class. I’ll see you later,” he said, and he started to walk out of the room.

  “No, no, come back,” Ms. Boscobel called, jumpi
ng up and grabbing Marcus by his overall strap. “You must stay right here in this class, where you belong.”

  “But I don’t belong here,” Marcus protested. “I don’t belong here.”

  “If you go running out of here, the next thing you know everyone in the class will go running out, too. That’s not the way we do things in kindergarten. You know you must listen to your teacher and do what she says.”

  “But you’re not our teacher,” said Jessica. “Yes, I am. Just for this morning,” said Ms. Boscobel. She turned to Marcus. “Marius. Sit down right here and don’t make a move unless I tell you.”

  Marcus sat down. He squirmed on the rug. “I moved,” he announced.

  “Marius. It’s hard to believe, but you are exactly like your brother Marcus,” said Ms. Boscobel with a sigh.

  “I am my brother,” said Marcus. “I’m Marcus.”

  “No joking around,” said Ms. Boscobel sternly. She turned to a boy sitting near Marcus on the carpet. “What’s your name?” she asked him.

  “Cole.”

  Ms. Boscobel pointed to each child in turn. “Jonah.”

  “Kayla.”

  “Jenna.”

  “Jessica.”

  “Jessica.”

  “Two Jessicas,” said Ms. Boscobel with a smile. “That’s easy to remember.”

  “You’re not very good at remembering,” called out Marcus. “You can’t remember me.” “Marius. I don’t want to hear a peep out of you.”

  “He’s always talking,” said one of the Jessicas.

  “No, I’m not,” said Marcus. “You don’t even know me.”

  “Marius,” said the other Jessica. “You were talking so much last week that Mrs. Greenstein said you were giving her a headache.”

  “Mrs. Greenbean said that?” asked Marcus. Marius hadn’t told him that piece of news.

  “It isn’t polite to call your teacher that,” said Ms. Boscobel. “You must always call your teacher Mrs. Greenstein.”

  “Does that mean that we should call you Mrs. Greenstein if you are our teacher this morning?” asked Marcus.

  “Don’t be silly,” said Ms. Boscobel impatiently.

  “He’s always silly,” said Kayla.

  Marcus sat on the rug and pouted. He didn’t mind that Kayla had called him silly. And he didn’t mind that Ms. Boscobel sounded annoyed with him. What bothered him was that he’d never be able to find out what sort of teacher Mrs. Greenstein was if she was off in his classroom while he was here in hers.

  When Ms. Boscobel turned away from the children for a moment, Marcus saw his chance to escape back to his own classroom. He slid over on the carpet toward the edge, closer to the doorway.

  “Ms. Boscobel. I have a boo-boo,” said Kayla, holding out her hand to show the teacher.

  “Let me see,” said Ms. Boscobel. She looked at the finger that Kayla offered her.

  Meanwhile, Marcus jumped up and raced toward the door.

  “Teacher. Teacher,” shouted Jenna, pulling her thumb out of her mouth so she could speak. “Marius is going out of the room.”

  Ms. Boscobel dropped Kayla’s hand and darted toward the doorway. She returned a moment later with her hand holding Marcus tightly.

  “Sit down and don’t get up,” she told him.

  “Maybe he has to make pee-pee,” said Jonah.

  “He should have gone to the bathroom at home. We don’t have toilet time this early,” said Ms. Boscobel. But she looked at Marcus and asked him anyway. “Were you on your way to the boys’ room?”

  “No,” said Marcus honestly.

  “I didn’t think so. You are not to get up, no matter what. Do you hear me?”

  Marcus nodded his head. It seemed to him that Ms. Boscobel scolded him more in this room than she did back in their own classroom. It didn’t make sense to him. He wondered if Mrs. Greenstein noticed that Marius was with her across the hallway. And he wondered if she was scolding this much, too.

  Ms. Boscobel held up the book she had brought with her. “Here is a new book that none of you have heard yet at school,” she said.

  “I heard it when you read it before,” Marcus shouted out.

  “That’s impossible. Did your brother come home and tell you about the story?” asked Ms. Boscobel.

  Marcus shook his head. “My brother doesn’t know that story,” he said. “But I do. I heard you read it.”

  “No, Marius. You are getting confused. I did not read this book to you yet. I am going to read it now.”

  “But—but—,” Marcus protested.

  “Marius. Please, button your mouth. I am going to read this book now.”

  Even though Marcus knew the whole story, he kept his mouth shut as the teacher began reading. She was only on the second page when a loud bell began to sound.

  “What’s that?” asked Cole.

  “It’s a burglar alarm,” said Eric.

  “No. It’s a school bell. Because we’re in school,” said one of the Jessicas.

  “That’s the bell for a fire drill,” said Ms. Boscobel. “Everyone stand up and wait at the door. We’ve had a fire drill before. You should remember what to do.”

  The children all rushed to get in a line. Only one student remained sitting on the carpet.

  “Double file. With a partner,” said Ms. Boscobel. “Marius. Why aren’t you in line?” she demanded, looking at Marcus.

  “I’m not Marius. Besides, you told me to button my mouth, but I can’t do that and talk to you at the same time,” Marcus said innocently.

  “Well, now I’m telling you to unbutton it, and I’m telling you to get in line!”

  “But I thought you said I couldn’t get up no matter what,” Marcus reminded Ms. Boscobel.

  “Marius, you are driving me mad!” exclaimed Ms. Boscobel. “Come here at once. Suppose the school was burning down. Would you just sit there?”

  “Is the school burning down?” asked Kayla. She began crying.

  “No. No. No. There’s no fire. This is just pretend. It’s practice,” said Ms. Boscobel. She put her arms around Kayla. “Now don’t be frightened,” she told her. “We’re going to march outside the school, just the way Mrs. Greenstein taught you to do.”

  “I’m scared,” said Jenna. “Give me a hug, too.”

  “Me too,” said Avery.

  “I don’t want no teachers hugging me,” said Cole.

  “Don’t hug me,” said Travis.

  Marcus didn’t say anything. He just marched out with the other students. He figured this would be the perfect chance to change places with his brother.

  9

  BACK IN PLACE

  Within three minutes, all the students who attended Edison-Armstrong were assembled in the school parking lot. Marcus saw Mrs. Greenstein with the students from his class standing nearby. He left his class line and rushed to find his brother.

  Marius looked very relieved when he saw Marcus. “Quick,” he said.

  Marcus scooted into Marius’s place in line while Marius rushed to fill the spot that Marcus had left. Ms. Boscobel and Mrs. Greenstein didn’t notice, 9966 because at that very moment they were having a quick conference together.

  “I know it’s not even a full hour, but I’m ready to go back to my own class, if you feel that way, too,” Ms. Boscobel told Mrs. Greenstein.

  “I think that’s a very good idea,” said Mrs. Greenstein. Her gray hair was in disarray.

  “Ladies. Ladies. You know the rule. It’s the same for teachers as it is for students. No talking during a fire drill unless there is some sort of emergency.”

  It was Mr. Herbertson speaking to his two kindergarten teachers.

  “This was an emergency,” said Mrs. Greenstein to the principal.

  “Yes, it was,” agreed Ms. Boscobel.

  In a minute, the loud bell rang again. It was the signal for the teachers to return to the school building with their students.

  Marius was surprised to discover that Mrs. Greenstein was leading his class in
stead of Ms. Boscobel.

  “Which class do you like better?” he asked Mrs. Greenstein as they marched into the building.

  “Hush,” said Mrs. Greenstein, putting her fingers to her lips. “No one is supposed to speak during a fire drill.”

  But back in the room, she gave her answer. “Marius,” she whispered in his ear, “I missed you. I missed all of my students when I was in Ms. Boscobel’s class.”

  “But . . .” Marius was about to say that he had been with her the whole time. But just in case he and Marcus tried the switch another day, he caught himself. “I missed you too, Mrs. Greenstein,” he declared.

  Marcus also felt good to be back in his own classroom. For some reason, Ms. Boscobel, the teacher that he dearly loved, was a nicer person in this room.

  Ms. Boscobel looked around her classroom. The students were all involved in quiet activities. Even Marcus, who always gave her so much trouble, seemed angelic this morning. She was glad to be back in the room where she belonged.

  When the morning ended and the students were dismissed, Ms. Boscobel rushed to the teachers’ room. She opened the bag of donuts she had brought with her and offered them to Mrs. Greenstein. “You are an amazing woman to put up with that Marius Cott each day,” she told her colleague. “I admit it. Marcus is easier to handle. Much easier.”

  “Well, my dear. It’s kind of you to say that,” Mrs. Greenstein responded, “but I don’t know how you manage to retain your sanity. I could hardly make it through half an hour with Marcus. I’ll take Marius over his brother any day.”

  “That’s good,” said Ms. Boscobel, biting into her donut. “Because we both have one hundred and sixty-two days until the school year ends.” “Look at the bright side,” said Mrs. Greenstein. “Some schools have full-day kindergarten programs. We only see those Cott boys half a day at a time.”

  “You’re right,” agreed Ms. Boscobel. “I was also thinking that it’s already October. It’s not as if we were just starting school.”

  “Thank goodness for small things,” Mrs. Greenstein exclaimed.