The Schoolhouse

The empty schoolhouse was old, worn and no longer functional.  The building was in disarray.  It was hard for the passerby to imagine that children had once roamed the halls.  But the school remembered.  The school remembered children arriving early in the morning - still asleep yet eager to talk with their friends.  Children sharpening their pencils before the school day began.  The talk around the hooks on the wall where coats, backpacks and lunchboxes were hung for the day.  The groans when tests were announced or given.  The tears when hard lessons were not quite mastered - whether those hard lessons be book lessons or life lessons in general.  First best friends.  First friends not being friends anymore.  Blue, red and white ribbons from art shows.  Band practices and concerts.  Learning to crawl under the desk for tornado drills, then learning to sit on one’s knees in the hallway with one’s head against the wall, then sitting on the floor in the hallway and putting one’s hands over one’s head.  Learning to line up and walk single file down the hallway, out the door, down the steps and into the play area to wait during a fire drill.  Children being reprimanded for aimlessly wandering the hallway.  Children being congratulated for mastering a subject which had been very hard.  Teachers teaching the lessons, passing out candy as rewards for good behavior, good grades or any other area of motivation needed.  Children gathering in the lunchroom to hurriedly eat their lunch so they could talk with their friends before going back to class.  Outside playtime - whether it be an organized game of tag, kickball, softball, frisbee or just free play.  There were many more minutes of the day the school house could remember.  But now there were just memories. Memories for the school.  Memories for the children.  Memories for the community.  Memories which may have been not too pleasant when they were happening but looking back on them they were good memories - maybe even great memories.  As you drive past that old, worn, no longer functional schoolhouse which is in disarray, listen carefully.  You may hear the faint sounds of the children who once ran the halls.  You may hear a game of kickball, hear giggling as children swing in the swings or ride the merry-go-round.  You may even hear a teacher calling her class to come in from recess.  The school is no longer being used but the lessons learned and friends made stick with each student for a life time.