Yard Duty

Barry came to me with wide eyes. "They're going to beat him up, Mister Caven."
I had just stepped outside, and even though it was only eight fifteen, I could tell it was going to be one of those days. "Who is going to get beat up, Barry?"
Barry was a second grader, and a kid who generally avoids trouble, so I figured that I had better take him seriously. "Over there," he said, pointing to the boys' restroom, "Craig."
I started to follow him, but was cut off by Sharon, a fourth grader. "He hit me with a rock." This sounded important too, but the lack of tears and a proper noun kept me moving toward the boys' room. I motioned for her to follow along. "Who hit you with a rock?"
"Craig."
Now things were starting to come together. At the door to the bathroom, I stopped and told Barry and Sharon, "Wait here."
Fortunately for me, when I walked in, the scene could not have been more clear: Four fourth grade boys had cornered Craig next to the trash can. A couple of them even did me the favor of making it even more cartoon-like by making menacing gestures with their fists. "Hello Kevin. Hello Curtis. Hello Jerry. Hello Edward." They turned around, surprised and embarrassed. A wave of relief crept across Craig's face. "Hello Craig." I turned to the others, "Will you excuse us for a moment? I need talk to Craig." The fourth graders seemed unsure about their next move. "Alone." And with that, they made for the exit, not looking back.
When I was alone with Craig and the green tile, I asked him, "Why'd you throw that rock at Sharon?"
There was a moment's hesitation, then a wave of stammering.
I rephrased, "You really shouldn't throw rocks at Sharon."
This time there was no noise, just a sad nod of the head.
I walked him out the door to where Sharon stood waiting, arms crossed. "You need to apologize to Sharon."
"I'm sorry."
I reminded him that apologies are complete sentences.
"I'm sorry I threw that rock at you."
"Craig, you've just lost your morning recess, understand?" Sharon smiled smugly. Then I asked her, "Why did you send those guys after Craig?"
The smile disappeared, and then it was her turn to stammer.
"I appreciate that you didn't chase him into the boys' room, but you could have come and told me, or any other adult."
"But he was," her voice trailed off.
"Who was it?" I remembered the ones that I had seen, but was curious if the conspiracy went any deeper.
"Curtis, Kevin, Jerry, Edward," this was not shaping up to be the revenge she had hoped for.
"Thank you. Now why don't you two go and get ready to line up. The bell is going to ring in five minutes."
It was easy to find the Gang of Four. They stood in a row on the bridge of the playstructure, almost like they were waiting for me. "Come on down guys." I was relieved that it took them just a few seconds to meander over to the edge of the mat. I went down the line: "Curtis, no morning recess and you owe me a discipline paragraph. Kevin, no morning recess and you owe me a discipline paragraph. Jerry, no morning recess and you owe me a discipline paragraph. Edward, no morning recess and you owe me a discipline paragraph."
Edward started to whine, "I didn't do nothin'."
I looked at the other three, who weren't backing their buddy on this one. I looked back at Edward. "Nothin'?"
He shook his head. He knew the jig was up.
"Bell's gonna ring in a minute or two. Be in line."
Sure enough, the bell rang at eight thirty, and we all went into our classrooms. The boys all did their time on the bench, and I had three of the four paragraphs handed to me before the end of the day. Edward still owes me his. I'll get it tomorrow.