Mr Fingerton’s Eyes - Chapter 4

Mr Fingerton’s Eyes

 

A Novel

By Paul McCann

Chapter 4

 

 The Extraordinary Child 

 

The long night slowly passed to the silence of the morning light, and he lay there in bed looking up at the ceiling. The silence was broken by a knock on the bedroom door,

‘Time to get up son or you’ll be late for school “:

She said,

“I don’t want to go to school today.

He replied  

“I know that son, but you are the teacher and it’s your first day with a new class so remember the children depend on you to be there to teach them “

His mother replied.

“Ok then, I guess you’re right “

He said and he slowly sat up.

“Your breakfast is on the table waiting and I made you some sandwiches and there’s coffee in your flask for you to bring to school. I’ll see you later on today. I have an appointment now and need to rush off. Have a good day “

Thanks Mum “

He replied as he got dressed and ready to go to work.

He ate breakfast and grabbed his lunch and car keys and closed the door behind him,

He started the old car and made his way up the hill to the traffic lights where he rode the clutch on the hill in first gear and waited for the moment when the lights would turn green. He was soon off again on his way to Garden Street Primary school as the rain began to fall softly to the ground .

His old wipers bales needed replaced and so the kind of screeched to and fro on the windscreen in their feeble effort to wipe away the rain drops  .

He drove through the school gates and parked his car in the teacher’s carpark  and then signed on the register before making his way into the classroom .

As he walked along the corridor a child he had once taught greeted him ,

“Good morning, Mr Fingerton  ‘

“Good morning, Johnny “  He replied.

One of the other teacher’s also greeted him.

Good morning, Mr Fingerton“

Good morning, Miss Jenny ’ he said .

Mr Fingerton opened up the door of his classroom and waited for all the new pupils to arrive at the classroom .  As they arrived, they sat at their usual places . Then as they settled, he said ,

“Good morning class . I don’t know you all yet but my name is Mr Fingerton”.

All the children replied together in one voice .

“Good morning, Mr Fingerton .”

He started to think to himself .“What Can I teach them today“

 

He stood up and looked at them and lifted a piece of chalk and said ,

‘I’m going to teach you how to write some letters today “

On the blackboard he wrote in large capital letters the first seven letters of the alphabet explaining in detail how each letter was written .

“Try to copy what I have written on the blackboard “

He said to the children then he sat at his desk for a little while before getting up to walk around and check how the children were going with the exercise .

He stopped at one of the desks and  was stunned at what he saw .

One of the children a boy called Darragh in his classroom had created an outstanding artwork far beyond his years  . Each letter was written in an advanced calligraphy form with sketches around each letter of small animals and birds entwined within

a frame that contained the letter . He stood there astonished not knowing what to say . He looked at the child , a star in the midst who had something unique . He quietly said , that’s very good and continued to walk around the class . He returned to his desk and said,

‘All right everyone , that was a very good effort . Well done .I’m going to read to you from a book called Jane and Jim . As he handed out books to all the children, he noticed the special child in the class speed read the entire book by the time he returned to his desk.

“ Ok everyone open up at page 22 “

Then he began to read to the class about Jane and Jim’s visit to the zoo and improvised by making the different sounds of the animals that Jane and Jim saw at the zoo . The children loved the way Mr Fingerton read the story . The school bell rang for morning break and everyone left the classroom .

Mr Fingerton had an apple and a cup of coffee from his flask . He went to the Darragh’s  desk and had a quick look through some of his notebooks and read the poetry and short stories that the young boy had scribbled down and couldn’t believe the depth of comprehension . The imagery and content of the stories was incredible . Now he realised this child was really something extraordinary .

After the class returned from their morning break Mr Fingerton handed out 

some blank sheets of paper and asked the class to follow his instructions to make a paper aeroplane  . He noticed Daragh using advanced origami to make a dove in very fast time . He observed in awe of the skills the but made no comment not wanting to draw any attention on him from the rest of the class . At the end of the day Mr Fingerton asked the children to bring in some information about what machines they used in their family home and what the machines were able to do . He watched the children make their way to the bus and made sure everyone got on safely , He never saw Darragh at the bus so he assumed his parent shad collected him in their car .

He never mentioned to any of the other teaches about Darragh as he wanted to talk to his mother about this child .

Mr Fingerton couldn’t stop thinking about this extraordinary child as he drove home and  the moment he got home he bombarded his mother with what had occurred .

She listened to every word her son had said and then she spoke ,

 

“In my years of teaching son, I have seen greatness a few times my advice is for you to just appreciate where it comes from and encourage the child . It is like a brief glimpse of heaven when you discover something like this , it comes and then it’s gone . Sometimes there's an exceptional child that will pass your way . Try not to tell too many people at this stage , just wait and see how things develop . “

The next day when Mr Fingerton arrived at school, he was met by Daragh at the reception , Mr Fingerton said good morning but the child never responded Making his way to the classroom he thought to himself ,

“What can I teach them today “

Shortly after he say down all the children arrived at the classroom . That was everyone except Daragh . He asked the class if anyone knew where Daragh was not present  . He  asked the class did anyone see him in the school yard was but no one responded which left him wondering . At morning tea break he  went to the office to enquire about Daragh but he was informed he must have the wrong name because there was no person by that name enrolled in his class . This seemed strange and he returned back to his classroom .

From his window he could see the schoolyard and he watched the children kicking a ball around the yard and heard the screams of children at play .

The school bell rang and the children returned to their classrooms .

Mr Fingerton sat quietly as the Children returned to their desks and then he noticed outside it started to rain . Mr Fingerton told the children that they would have to stay in the classroom for lunch if the rain continued . Then he noticed Daragh out there in the schoolyard on his own in the rain .

He told the children he would be back in a minute and to take out their notebooks and pencils . He quickly made his way to the schoolyard but when he got there Daragh had disappeared .

It was one of those days at school . The wet weather continued and sometimes it was difficult to teach on wet days because the children would be distracted . It was almost an extra boring day in the classroom because Mr Fingerton was distracted as well  wondering about the child he was seeing.

He got through the day and drove home with the sound of the wipers screeching on the windowpane . Suddenly out of the blue Darragh walked out in front of his car and he hit his brakes hard . His car skidded a little but came to a rest on the side of the road . At the same time two trucks and a bus collided just in front of his car . Mt Fingeron got out of his car but there of Daragh anywhere . If it were not for Daragh crossing the road he would have been killed in that collision with the bus and the trucks . On the ground near his car, he saw a white feather there .

He managed to drive home and when he told his mother about what had happened , she looked sat him and said .

“ I think what you have seen was not a school child but an angel son who protected you . You are very lucky to be alive ?”

 

End of Chapter 4

 

Link to chapter 5

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/mr-fingerton%E2%80%99s-eyes-chap...

 

Mr Fingerton’s Eyes

A Novel

By Paul McCann