Educating Everett

By Myron Baughman

        Everett is a typical teen-age young man who finds growing up is full of changes as well as misadventures. Everett is involved in sports, school plays, school dances, learning to drive, and camping. See how he learns to cope with each situation and judge for yourself if he has made the right decision about himself. He learns that we all learn from our mistakes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Myron Baughman
• Release date: Mar 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224352944

Myron Baughman

Dr. Baughman is a graduate of Bob Jones University, with a B.S. in Education. He graduated from the International Bible Seminary with a Th.M. He graduated with honors from the Andersonville Theological Seminary with a D. Min. Dr. Baughman lives with his wife, Denise in Georgia and has four children. 

Book preview

By Dr. Myron Baughman

Dedicated to My Loving Wife Denise

Table of Contents

Learning Science

Learning Math

Health Class

Lunch

Comprehending Spanish

Getting Physically Fit

In My Forte

Study Hall

At the End of the Day

10. Hiding

11. Captives

12. Eye Witnesses

13. Hunted

14. The Field Trip

15. The Class Play

16. Driving Class

17. The Camping Trip

18. Uncle Geezer’s Airplane

19. A School Dance

20. My Driver’s Test

21. My First Job

22. Civics Class

23. Being a Basketball Star

24. Auto Shop

25. The Last Day of School

Chapter One

First Day at School: Learning Science

The school bus stopped at the corner for those my age. I was fifteen going on sixteen, so I felt grown up as a young adult. I was a freshman and had only a little idea that the new school year held many new things for me, Everett Abbott. My dad was English and my mom was Hispanic. It seemed to be a good mix of cultures being that they got along so well and had many friends. I was looking forward to taking driver’s education this year. This was an a-typical northeastern American school. It was somewhat still in the Stone Age or something. The school did have more divided classrooms than the middle school had and featured many different teachers. The whole set up seemed to be sort of like changing channels on our TV. I discovered that I was not able to just change the channel. I left the science lab early in period one and was caught wondering down the hall looking in the doors. The student hall monitor stopped me, and turned me around.

You better get your butt back to your class before they send you to Big Bopper’s office. He will sling you around first and then send you home. You do not want that to happen on your first day of school do you? Now, get! The tall upper classman pointed me in the right direction and I hurried back to the science lab.

There I found Mr. Kepler, the short, humpbacked science teacher waiting for me. Students in the know told me that twice his wife from the second story rafters had hanged him in his home in two separate kinky sessions, so now he was permanently deformed. I had to admit that he looked as if he had been experimented on. Such new knowledge gave me respect for those students who knew secrets. They were considered the elite by us commoners.

You cannot leave the classroom without permission! If you have to go to the bathroom, raise your hand and I’ll give you a hall pass. Okay? This is your first day here, so I can understand mistakes. Mr. Kepler said.

Oh, Mr. Igor, it wasn’t a mistake, I said sheepishly. I just wanted a better looking teacher, you know like the one down the hall. Everyone laughed.

The name is Mr. Kepler, young man, and he proceeded to write his name on the white front board with his black dry marker for all to see. Suddenly, as he wrote, a giant wet spitball splattered on the board just in front of the line on which he was writing. It had been shot from a large caliber straw of bragging proportions from the back of the room. Everyone snickered.   You must mean, Miss Mellon. She teaches English. You will probably see her sometime today, he said as he flicked the drying spitball off the board as if he had done it so many times it was normal.  

Can’t wait, I whispered to Kevin who sat next to me. It didn’t seem out of the ordinary for any of us boys to have our eyes on girls this year, but just last year everyone was quite shy on the subject. Now, the subject could be considered a major study in itself. 

In this class you will be learning the basic principles of earth and space science. I also teach chemistry. You may be lucky enough to get into that class also. Now, let me make sure everyone has a textbook. We will do it by rows. The first row to the right will file up to my desk, and I will distribute and record the books handed out.

The first row to his right stood up and proceeded quietly to the front desk. Sadly, the row to the student’s right also stood up. Our school did not lend out laptops as some schools do. They had lost thousands of dollars the previous years with that program and so the school board discontinued the practice except for the second half of the year for the seniors. Cell phones were not permitted under any circumstance on school property unless you were a teacher, administrator or staff member. Leaving my phone at home made me feel like I was drastically missing something.

No, no, you must sit down. It’s not your turn. I said to the right. I mean my right, not your right." Mr. Kepler said.

That ain’t right! Jamie from row three said.

Wrong right, but two wrongs don’t make a right. Frank said.

I’m confused. Sheri said on row two. Everyone laughed.

Quiet! Mr. Kepler demanded.

Each person in the classroom signed his or her name in his record book and he recorded the book number. Meanwhile, as this was going on, one elite student, Eddie by name had quietly opened the door on the right of the classroom. It was the normally locked door to the chemical room. Inside were shelves and shelves of chemicals. He quickly snatched several small bottles and closed the door. His covert operation went undetected because the line of book receivers blocked the teacher’s view.

I could not tell what he was doing but it appeared that Eddie was carefully mixing several of the items from the chemistry room. The second row and then the third row of students went to the front and received their textbooks.

Hey, doc! Pam, a girl from the first row said in a loud voice as she looked through her newly issued book. I need a different book. This one has a lot of pages that are stuck together.

Oh, sorry about that, Mr. Kepler said. Please bring your book back up here. I’ll examine it and if need be, I’ll give you a different book. Pam promptly took her book back to the front where Mr. Kepler attempted to open many of the pages. It appears that the chapter on reproduction has been stuck shut. I will have to issue a different book. These books are not new, but maybe we will have some new ones next year. Please take good care of your books in case we don’t get new ones next year. Parents who don’t like their children taking any sex education do not need to do things like this! He quietly put the book to the one side and gave Pam a new book.

It wasn’t a parent, sir. One of your past students liked that chapter too well. Bennie said aloud from the back of the classroom. Everyone chuckled.

May I have the restroom pass, Mr. Kepler? Pam asked. I need to wash my hands.

Yes, of course, here it is. Mr. Kepler handed her a piece of cardboard that looked like an empty toilet paper roll that had the classroom number written on it. Don’t take too long. Each student can only take five minutes. With that remark, everyone’s hand went into the air. Well, not everyone can go to the bathroom. There just isn’t time. You will have to go when the bell rings at the end of the period.

What? I have to go now! Donnie said as he stood at his desk and squirmed.

Sit down! It is one at a time in this classroom.

Hey, it looks like someone threw up in my book! Little Leroy yelled. Little Leroy Tobisoftkey identified himself as a black, Polish Indian of the Cherokee Nation. I never could quite figure out an identity. Leroy was also the shortest person in the class and so was labeled little. Later in the year, he was chosen to be the center for our basketball team for some reason. I could not figure that out either. Leroy was somewhat mysterious to me. He stood there barely taller than his desk holding his book over his head. He displayed unreadable pages to everyone.

Oh, how awful! Penny said who sat beside him. Leroy had leaned over and had stuck the open book in her face so she got a good look at its disgusting dried gore.

Okay, Leroy, bring it back up here. Mr. Kepler said.

Suddenly, an awful smell filled the classroom. We found out shortly that Eddie, who had his own chemistry set at home and thus was knowledgeable in such things, had secretly made a stink bomb there at his desk. The smell was awful causing the girls to choke. It was hilarious but no one laughed because breathing was punitive.

I don’t know what happened. But you will all have to go out into the hall until the smell clears out. Mr. Kepler said as he choked. He attempted to open the windows, but those had not been opened in years and remained stuck shut. Just then, the school bells rang indicating it was time to change classes. We all quickly ran out the classroom door, leaving Mr. Kepler behind to put out the small fire in a petri dish on Eddie’s desk. Donnie came out last hoping that no one would notice that the inside of his trousers was wet all the way down to his shoes. There was a wet puddle under Donnie’s desk waiting for the next student. We could hear Mr. Kepler coughing and choking as we all hurried away. Not all the books had been distributed, but we were not worried about that. We just wanted away from the horrible stink of Kepler’s class. My first class in science was quite an education. I felt confident that I might graduate with honors from this school, that is if I am not thrown out first.  

Chapter Two

I learn Math

We were given eight minutes between classes to find our rooms and be seated. The math classroom with Mr. Marx was just down the hall from Mr. Kepler’s esteemed classroom. I learned that the math teacher was a veteran instructor. Actually, I had been warned about him by my father. He had taught my father, and his father before him. He must have been around a hundred years old or something.

We all quietly entered his classroom, unsure of what we would find. He already had his name posted on the front board, and name cards on the student desks for assigned seats. He seemed organized, that fact seemed a little scary to us. We all looked around and found our seats and waited for Mr. Marx to begin.

Mr. Marx was seated at his desk, looking down at his textbook. He was ancient. He didn’t move or say anything. Finally, Jimmy, who was the mathematician of our class, went up to the teacher’s desk to see if he was still alive.

"Oh yes, you