Sammy's First Day Disaster Part 12
Previously on Supernatural- As John watched his boys sleeping later, he hoped he was doing the right thing by taking Sammy back to school. After watching them for several minutes, John lay down in his own bed and went to sleep dreading the day to come.
John had been right. Wednesday had barely begun, and it was already a disaster. John’s sweet little boy had transformed into “Hurricane Sammy” as soon as he found out he was going back to school. Dean had tried to calm his little brother down by telling him that he’d have a good teacher like Mrs. Bridges and reminding him about the car races on Friday. But nothing worked. Sammy had used every trick in the book to get his daddy to change his mind; crying, stomping, even throwing things. The last straw came when Sam decided to lock himself in the bathroom. After sending Bobby and Dean out to the car, John marched over to the bathroom and quickly unlocked the door. Grabbing his youngest son’s arm, John delivered two light swats to Sam’s backside stopping the tantrum midstream. A crying Sam launched himself into his daddy’s strong arms.
“I’m sorry, daddy” he sobbed into John’s neck.
“I know, kiddo, I know” John soothed. Sitting down on the closest bed with his bundle, John continued, “And I know you’re scared to go back to school, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to throw a fit. No matter how mad you get with daddy, you never run away from me or lock me out. Do you understand, Sammy?”
From the vicinity of John’s shoulder came a whispered, “Yes sir.”
“Good,” John replied. “Now I know you’re scared to go back to school, but it’ll be okay. Mr. Bonner told me you have a very nice teacher, and I’ll be right there in the room with you. So you have nothing to worry about, sport. Okay?”
Sammy peeked up at his dad. “Promise?” he asked.
“I promise” John said, crossing his heart. “Come on; let’s go wash your face before we go to breakfast.
Breakfast was an uncomfortable affair. John and Bobby talked shop to break the quiet at the table. Sammy pushed his food around his plate, eating very little. Dean spent his time trying to get his brother to eat while shooting angry glares John’s way. Once breakfast was finished they said goodbye to Bobby and climbed in the car to head out. The uneasy silence continued all the way to the school.
After hugging Dean and sending him on his way, John picked up a reluctant Sammy and walked to the office. Mrs. Donna was just leaving the office when they got there. She explained that she would be taking them to Sam’ new room since Mr. Bonner had been called to take care of a problem in the lunchroom. She led them to the first door on kindergarten hall. John smiled as he took in the door disguised as a large red and white striped hat. Thanking Mrs. Donna, John took a deep breath and headed in the room.
Sammy grinned as he saw all the room decorations. Everywhere he looked, he saw Dr. Seuss characters. Cat in the Hat, Horton, Sam-I-am, and even the Grinch hung from the ceiling. Even the alphabet chart was covered with Dr. Seuss’ wild creations. “This teacher might be alright after all” Sammy thought.
John took one look at the teacher and liked her immediately. Mrs. Horton had been very prim and proper, but this teacher seemed very casual and laid back. She was smiling as she strolled over to them.
“Well, good morning” she greeted them. “My name’s Mrs. Sheppard. You must be Mr. Winchester and this little guy has to be Sammy.”
Sammy hid his face in his daddy’s shoulder so John answered for him. “Please call me John. Sorry about Sammy. He’s a little shy this morning. Enjoy the quiet while you can. Once he warms up, he’ll be talking your ears off. Hope you don’t mind me staying.”
“No problem, Mr. Win, I mean John. Daddy’s are always welcome.” Mrs. Sheppard replied. “We’re having center time right now. Why don’t I show you where Sammy’ll be sitting and then you can find a center to play in until breakfast.”
Mrs. Sheppard walked them over to the coat rack to hang up Sam’s book bag before showing them to his desk. John noticed that an adult sized chair had already been placed next to Sammy’s seat. Setting down Sam’s supplies, John glanced around the room trying to decide what center might interest his little boy. Spotting the blocks, John carried Sam over and sat down. “What do you think kiddo?” John asked. “You want to build something with the blocks?”
Sam shook his head no and stayed on his father’s knee watching two little boys play. The boys kept right on playing, casting glances over at Sam and John every once in a while. After a few minutes, the smaller of the two boys slowly walked over. A quiet “hey” and a wave were all the warning John got before the little boy climbed and sat on his knee facing Sam.
“Hey, I’m Christian” the overall clad boy announced. “Me and Nolan are building a castle. Wanna help?”
Sammy shook his head again and buried his face in his dad’s chest.
Not missing a beat, Christian looked up at John. “You wanna help build the castle, mister?” he asked.
“Okay. We’ll help.” John let himself be led over to where Nolan was building. As he sat on the floor and played with the boys, he began to notice small signs of Sammy coming out of his shell. It started with Sammy just watching, and then he started handing John blocks. By the end of center time, Sammy was on the floor building and talking with the other boys.
When they had cleaned up centers and washed hands, Mrs. Sheppard led the class to the lunchroom. John sat back and watched as Sammy gobbled up everything that was on his plate while talking to Christian and Nolan.
After breakfast and a bathroom break, the class went to the auditorium for an assembly about a book fair. Mrs. Sheppard’s class sat in a row on the floor Indian-style while Mrs. Sheppard and John sat in folding chairs. Sammy sat in his daddy’s lap, waving at Dean as his class went by.
As soon as all the classes were seated, the librarian told them about the book fair and showed a short video highlighting some of the books in the fair. Once the video ended, she told the students that she had a special surprise for them. Clifford was coming to see them; all they needed to do was call him. On the count of three, all the children yelled “Clifford!” and a person in a big red dog costume walked out on stage. John was almost knocked off his chair as Sammy, Christian, Nolan, and a girl he didn’t know all tried to climb on his lap. Apologizing, the teacher beside John took the little girl and set her in her own lap. Mrs. Sheppard attempted to get Christian or Nolan off John, but the boys refused to be pried off. Evidently they thought he offered more protection from the dog. John shifted and did his best to hold and comfort the three boys. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Dean practically rolling in the floor laughing at him. Ignoring Dean, John went back to calming his three thankfully small charges.
By lunchtime, John decided it was time for him to go. Sammy was doing fine now. And John was worn out from pushing the merry-go-round and swings, helping button and snap clothes, and playing in general. He needed a nap. He walked over and talked to Mrs. Sheppard thanking her and letting her know he would be leaving after taking his boys to the book fair. She thanked him for helping out and told him to come back anytime. John took Sammy by the hand and led him to the library where Dean was already waiting for them. He told both boys they could pick out one book and turned them lose. Dean snatched up a book about cars just like John knew he would. Sammy surprised him though. He walked right past all the Dr. Seuss books and picked up the book his teacher had read to them earlier.
“Look, Dean” Sam all but shouted, pointing to the last page. “We share everything in kindergarten. See?”
Dean took one look at the picture and burst out laughing. “I don’t know if dad’ll like that, squirt.”
“Great” John groaned. “Guess I’ll be talking to him about sharing next.”
Upon leaving the library, John sent Dean back to his class. He slowly walked Sam back to his room, stopping outside the door. “I’m leaving now, Sammy. You have fun, and I’ll see you after school. Okay?” John questioned, not expecting the response he got.
“Bye, daddy!” Sammy said. He quickly hugged his dad and ran back in his classroom.
“Well that went better than I imagined” John thought as he walked toward the front doors.
A few hours later, found a very refreshed John Winchester pulling up to the school. Grinning from ear to ear, Dean and Sammy climbed in and took turns talking John’s ears off all the way back to the motel. The boys jumped out of the impala the second it stopped and ran inside to play. John didn’t make it inside before Bobby caught him.
Standing outside so they could talk without worrying about little ears overhearing the conversation, Bobby told John the news. “Something’s going on. Lt. Bryant just called. He said that bitch; Mrs. Horton had phoned the station and dropped the charges against me. Talked to Mrs. Toler, too. Apparently, Mrs. Horton called CPS and took back her statements saying she was just angry about her suspension and that she made it up to get back at you.”
John thought for a moment before speaking. “What do you think made her change her mind?”
“I don’t know” Bobby stated. “But no one has seen or heard from her since early this morning. The police went to her place and nothing’s out of place. It’s like she just walked out of her house and vanished.”
“That’s odd. But I can’t say I’m sorry to see her go.” John admitted. “You know what. I think Sammy having a great day in school and you and me both being cleared calls for a celebration. Let’s get the boys and go out for ice cream.”
“Now you’re talking” Bobby said clapping John on the shoulder.
A pair of piercing blue eyes watched as the small family came out of the motel room and got into the car laughing. They continued staring until the car was out of sight. Starting his own car Joshua turned in the opposite direction the Winchesters had gone. Nobody messed with his family and got away with it. That Mrs. Horton wouldn’t be terrorizing any other kids. He’d made sure of that. Joshua smiled as he drove out of town, confident that his family was safe.
The End
Author’s Note- The book Sammy picked out was “We Share Everything” by Robert Munsch. Won’t tell you what’s on the last page. Don’t want to spoil the ending. Let’s just say, the kids take the phrase we share everything literally.