Night Kids

 

The sun trickled weakly in through the classroom windows. 

Small children filtered into the class, taking their seats, the same way they did the day before.  It was always the same, it just seemed to them that the class was starting earlier and earlier each day.

The room was cold.  It always seemed cold.  None of them could remember a time that it hadn’t been cold.  It felt like the heater was never on.  So, they kept their warm coats on, trying to fend off the chill so they could focus on the lessons for the day.

The teacher came in and took up her normal place in front of the black board at the side of the classroom. Most of the kids thought it odd that they had to turn so much to watch the teacher, but this was the way it always was.  But still, they pondered, it would make more sense for the board to be at the front of the class.

They listened intently. They were, after all, very good students.  They learned about the different letters, numbers and shapes. Story time was always the best part though.  They would get to hear fun stories about other parts of the world. There were stories about kings and queens, fables about ants and lions. Of course, the best part was when Mother Goose showed up and told them one of her stories.  She always made the day a little better.  But she was funny looking to some of the students.  She had a neck that was a little too long for her body and always wore her feathered coat.

Once they had finished the reading for the day they could go to recess. Today was dark out.  The clouds had come in and blotted out the light.  It had got so dark, in fact, that the lights on the outside of the building came on.  This was normal to them though.  They knew if they didn’t come on it wouldn’t be safe to play on the playground.

The teacher’s shrill whistle would tell them that it was time to come back in. They would line up and file back into the class.  Then it was time for more math and more reading. Craning their necks, they would the watch the teacher draw letter after letter on the board. A few of the them wondered why the letters on the track above the blackboard were written backwards, but teacher didn’t seem to notice, or care.

As the lessons drew to a close, they could hear the heater finally coming on. The room slowly warmed up as they put their books in their bags and turned their desks, so the fronts faced the blackboard. All of them felt like this was the better way to arrange a class, but they were just kids, so they did as they were told.  But it was a weird practice.

They left the classroom and headed outside. The sun was barely coming up in the eastern sky. As they faded back into the night, they could hear squeals and giggles. Their teacher told them it was “just the day kids”, but they all knew that there was no such thing as “day kids” she was just messing with them.