Schoolhouse

As Ms. Feldman rings the bell from the front door of the Merrywire schoolhouse, dozens of children scamper away from their snowball fights, forts, and search for snow fairies to reenter the warm quiet schoolhouse. Their chatters quickly quiet until the only sound in the room is the crackle of the fireplace.

The Merrywire schoolhouse is not a pillar of excellence like the larger county school, and its interior shows it. The wooden frame is pocked with holes plugged by old rags, and there were some sections of the walls that are more cloth than wood. The fireplace is the one source of heat radiating across the room, so students file into seat by age, with the oldest near the back, as they can handle the cold that escapes from the door much better than the small bodies of the young children. It is here where Ms. Anne Miller sits, the back row, one seat to the right of the door. The fireplace can barely reach as far back as Ms. Miller, so it makes more sense to stay in her jacket and hat all day than join her classmates in shedding the cold, wet garments as they reenter the room.

While Ms. Feldman instructs the early years on their readings for the day, the back row splits into two gossip groups. For the three boys on the left, and the four girls on the right, their conversations couldn't be more different. While the boys commonly talk of their hunting adventures, or firewood duties that spanned late into the night, the girls, much to Ms. Miller's dismay, talk almost exclusively about the boys in the back row. Ms. Amelia Johnson never stops talking about Mr. Johnny Basket, about his eyes, how he'll court her once they got out of school, and their three future children, John Jr., Theodore, and Eliza. It does not matter that Mr. Johnny Basket has never so much as waved at Ms. Amelia Johnson, Ms. Johnson still imagines her future endeavors as Mrs. Amelia Basket.

Then there is Ms. Jane Thorson. Ms. Thorson is much more reserved in the gossip circle, although she does participate. Unlike, Ms. Amelia Johnson, however, Ms. Thorson's dating life is real, with Mr. David Brunson. Ms. Thorson is never gratuitous in her delivery of information, but it is designed in part to mock Ms. Johnson, with talks of long walks out in the woods, or hand holding on the walk back to her home. For the fact that they were nearly fifteen, Ms. Thorson thinks it wholly ridiculous that Ms. Johnson fantasizes like a little child with a schoolyard crush. It is not that Ms. Johnson has no suitor, Mr. Jeremy Franklin prefers to be at every beck and call of Ms. Johnson when not in school, yet Ms. Johnson rejects his advances at every turn, because of her infatuation with Mr. Basket. So Ms. Thorson's goal in the gossip circle became one of teasing Ms. Johnson for her suitor troubles.

At the end of the row is Ms. Madeleine Potter. Ms. Potter has little patience with such gossip, preferring to read the novels in the small library and any other books she could get her hands on thrice over. It does not help, however, that she is the prettiest of the bunch, and thus she is regularly asked by Ms. Johnson and Ms. Thorson about any potential suitors, especially from the town over. Ms. Potter of course rejects all of these suitors, wanting to focus more on her knowledge of both sciences and stories. She is a very bright mind and will likely be called to be a governess if Ms. Feldman could find her a suitable placement. Thus, gossip is entirely out of order.

As Ms. Johnson and Ms. Thorson gossiped, Ms. Miller listens contently, patiently waiting for Ms. Feldman to approach the back of the room to give them their next lesson. Sometimes the gossip is interesting, but lately it's been little more than a dreamscape for Ms. Johnson. As she listened, she pulls out a small leather-bound journal. It doesn't contain much, some recipes she picked up from the day she spent with the Johnson's private chef, a grocery list or two, and some daily reminders for chores. But when Ms. Thorson sees the journal, she snatches it up.

"Why, what could we have here?" Ms. Thorson quips as she ruffles through the pages. Keeping an eye on Ms. Miller as she leafs through, Ms. Thorson quickly realizes that the pages of the journal have little value to the gossip conversation, and her disgust at the journal only grows, a scowl coming across her face as she realizes that she could not use the journal to get away from Ms. Johnson's incessant ramblings about little Eliza's eventual study on the home organ. But given Ms. Johnson's complete lack of attention to the journal, Ms. Thorson quickly turns her frown to a smile, understanding the entirely fictitious events the journal can hold.