The Silent Spillbills

The Silent Spillbills — page 1 — Her Majesty That's it for today Einsteins said Mr Massimino the math teacher and every boy in the class bolted out of the room For the most part the girls didn't bolt Katerina Farnsworth included But then Katerina didn't dawdle either and since she'd taken her usual precaution of packing her book bag before class she didn't have to stop by her locker So she was one of the first out the front doors Thornton Lake School was a private school not far from New Haven Connecticut that went from seventh to twelfth grades Not surprisingly it was located on Thornton Lake and so rowing rather than baseball or track was the most popular spring sport On this sunny afternoon in May the head mistress Ms Wainwright happened to be talking

The Silent Spillbills — page 2 — with the crew coach Mr LeBlanc on the far side of the parking lot above the grassy slope leading down to the dock and the shell shack The headmistress was about twice the size of the coach so they made kind of a comical sight But it didn't seem comical to Katerina when Ms Wainwright suddenly turned away from him and spotted her Yoohoo Katerina Three more steps and she would have been safe in her school bus Now she had no choice but to veer off toward the bulky headmistress Quite a day for you isn't it Ms Wainwright said her bright eyes magnified by big round thick rimmed glasses It's hard to believe from the picture in the paper your grandfather's really ninety It was taken when he was seventy six Katerina thought But despite dozens of sessions with speech therapists and long hours of tongue exercises Katerina stuttered her S's so she just nodded politely Imagine ninety and still in harness Ms Wainwright gushed on It says there's going to be a big bash for him at the Park Plaza Hotel tonight

The Silent Spillbills — page 3 — That's right Would you convey my congratulations Of course Franklin Farnsworth wouldn't know poor little me from a fly on the wall but still Til tell him Katerina said wondering if the headmistress really thought of herself as little Do you suppose that's a Farnsworth plane right there One glance at the silver glint on the horizon and Katerina knew it was indeed a product of Farnsworth Aeronautics a Snub winged Scoter to be exact But she just shrugged her eyes shift ing uneasily to a gaggle of kids crowding onto her bus Well enjoy the big do Katerina Thanks Ms Wainwright Ah Herr Fritz How are you Wie geht es Ihnen Sehr gut danke Mr Fritz replied Poor Katerina Now it was her German teacher Like the headmistress he wore glasses but his were tiny and rimless barely covering his weak blinky eyes Have you met Katerina Farnsworth Herr Fritz

The Silent Spillbills — page 4 — Indeed I have Ms Wainwright Katerina is one of my star pupils Ah you take German do you Katerina Naturally your mother Katerina's mother was German by birth But the reason Katerina had picked German was sim ply that its S was usually pronounced Z or Sh which gave her no problems Your mother Mr Fritz said blinking away Dr Hilda Doppelkoffer Farnsworth the renowned psychiatrist said Ms Wainwright She teaches at Yale This year she's just working at her clinic Katerina said And your father president of Farnsworth said Mr Fritz blinking furiously now What a family Katerina smiled politely from the small glasses to the big glasses but as Ms Wainwright started telling Mr Fritz about her grandfather's birthday she spotted more kids climbing onto her bus just ahead of Mr Papadopoulos the driver Um pardon me ma am she said but I think Ah yes the buses are loading up aren't they

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