Once more to the Kinter house, but first, the standard disclaimer: If you haven’t read the other stories in this series, click here to read them before getting into this week’s flash fiction. (Start at the bottom and read them in the order they were posted.)
The prompt for this story is brought to you by the 500 Club. It is, honestly, very similar to the prompt I used for the third part of this series (‘raiding party‘) in that it’s all about back to school. But, as we already know, Mr. Kinter is a teacher–in more ways than one–and the trio of kids are living out their last day of freedom before another tour of duty in the classroom. (At least, they hope it’s just their last day of freedom and not their last day.) All that to say, the prompt worked into the series nicely.
The prompt:
Write a story about a teacher and his/her students. What are they studying? Are they learning how to slay a dragon, or is this the first day of space camp? Feel free to write about your own hobbies or interests, with a twist.
I assure you, I did not write about my own hobbies or interests, though there could be a twist. I hope you enjoy it.
lesson one
When Mr. Kinter arrived at the bottom of the steps he found the children only a few feet beyond, their eyes fixed on sweet Jessica.
“Ah,” he said. “You’ve met my sister.”
At the sound of his voice, the girl whipped her head around and glared at him. She was the fiery one, he surmised. The dangerous one. She pivoted and charged him, her tiny fists clenched. Her pony tail bounced behind her head like a banner–the girl knight of the golden locks. Mr. Kinter smiled.
The girl gained an impressive amount of speed in the few feet between her and Mr. Kinter, but he was much bigger and much stronger than she. Also, he had dealt with this sort of thing before. Whereas her adrenaline was on overdrive, he was nursing a comfortable epinephrine high and was resolved to avoid a second instance of rash over-reaction. When she was only inches from him, he side stepped and slipped his arm behind her, his palm locking onto the small of her back. All he had to do then was pull his shoulder blades together, capitalizing on her momentum. She very nearly flew into the staircase.
Her head made solid contact with the third step and her body crumbled to the floor.
The two boys watched in horror. Without her, their unspoken leader, he doubted either would even put up a fight.
“School begins tomorrow,” he said. “The first day of term. However, I think an advance lesson might be in order for you two young men. Perhaps something that will encourage you to avoid breaking into a neighbor’s house in the future.”
He took two big steps toward them and knelt, bringing all three of them to eye level with one another. Behind the boys, Jessica cooed.
“You’ve made a mess for me, frankly. I had intended to settle here. To stay here for some time. Now I have to pick up and move on…again, this time much sooner than I had planned. I cannot let you go, you understand.” He clucked his tongue. “Still, the more the merrier, they say. Now Jessica and I have four…projects…instead of only one.”
He looked past the boys to Jessica. “We’ll have some fun,” he said conspiratorially and winked.
Then, without warning, he grabbed Max by the left arm, stood and jerked hard. Max spun on his toes and his shoulder popped, the jointed dislocated. He howled, which won him a brutal backhand. Mr. Kinter pulled him to an empty chair near the foot of the stairs and pushed him down into it. He used duct tape to secure his arms and legs, and then slapped the boy again across the face, for good measure.
Turning back to Kevin, he smiled. It looked alarmingly like the smile Lucifer might have worn just after Jesus died on the cross.
“Lesson one,” he said. “How to remove a human ear with a simple pair of scissors!”
Max fainted.