As everyone arrived one sunny morning at Half Hitch school, there was the murmur of rumors in the air: Everyone was whispering that Mrs Perrinpeas the headmistress wanted everyone to meet in the hall before classes begun - and apparently it was because they were all going to be introduced to a new teacher.
As everyone from every glass sat in the main hall facing the stage, Mrs Perrinpeas entered, carrying a basket. This was unusual; Mrs Perrinpeas didn’t normally walk around with a basket.
“Before classes begin,” said Mrs Perrinpeas. “I should like you all to meet a very important new member of staff.” She lay the basket on the floor and opened it. “Please welcome, Harriet.”
Mrs Perrinpeas reached into the basket and then held up a very small, but very calm, black Labrador puppy.
Everyone GASPED in surprise.
“I have decided to call her Harriet after our very first headmaster, and founder of Half Hitch, Mr Harrydog. So her official name shall be ‘Harriet of Half Hitch.’ Kaolin raised her hand to ask a question, but Mrs Perrinpeas had already guessed what it was and answered “Harriet will take it turns to live in every classroom for one week at a time, beginning with…”. Kaolin crossed her fingers. “Mrs Kipper’s class.”
Kaolin and everyone else in Mrs Kipper’s class looked each other excitedly whilst everyone in every other class groaned.
But it soon turned out that Harriet the puppy didn’t spend much time in the class room. She seemed to spend even her very first morning happily doing lots of jobs for Mrs Perrinpeas and the other teachers. Like delivering notes, carrying papers to be marked from one room to the other, or even - to the amazement of everyone - jumping up to pull the calendar off the wall to lick it over to today’s correct date.
But playtime for the pupils at Half Hitch was also playtime for Harriet. And as you can imagine, everyone wanted to play with her. And lunchtime for the pupils was also lunchtime for Harriet. And as you can imagine, everyone wanted to sit next to her.
And nap time in the afternoon was also nap time for Harriet, and as everyone in Mrs Kipper’s class laid out their mats and settled down for their snooze, Harriet curled up on her new special bed in the corner for her snooze too.
But as Mateo lay on his mat, he found it hard to go to sleep, and, careful not to let anyone else see he wasn’t sleeping, opened his eyes to look over a Harriet. He saw that Harriet’s eyes were open too, and then saw the puppy get up and pad calmly over to the classroom door, open it, and walk outside into the corridor.
What was Mateo to do? Maybe Harriet wasn’t supposed to be out during nap time? Maybe she’d run out of the gate or… He sat up and saw that Mrs Kipper was dozing in her chair, too. So he crept over to the door and looked out. Harriet was trotting off down the corridor, and so - only thinking it would be best for the puppy - Mateo decided to follow her. Even if Harriet was a… well… a member of staff.
Following along behind, Mateo saw Harriet sniff all the way down one corridor, and then all the way down another, as if she was looking for something. Then, she went down the main stairs, and as she did so - Mateo followed. Then, along another corridor, and down another smaller flight of stairs. Then a further corridor, and then a smaller, twister flight of stairs, and all the while Mateo followed along behind.
“She’s going down a long way,” thought Mateo - but then remembered. All the stairs in Half Hitch go the opposite way, so the further you go down, the higher in the building you get. As sure, enough, when he saw Harriet use her nose to open a very old looking door and go down an even smaller staircase, he looked out of a dusty old window to see that he was in one of the tallest turrets of the school, above the roof.
Harriet was sitting staring at a small door so old that most of the orange paint had fallen off it to reveal the bare wood. It was certain that it hadn’t been opened in a very, very long time - maybe a hundred years - or two hundred - or THREE.
Mateo’s feet made a noise on the stairs and the little brown puppy turned around to look at him. She seemed pleased, and wagged her tail, putting both paws up against the door. This made Mateo feel better, he hadn’t liked following Harriet in secret, and it looked to him like she wanted him to try and open the door. But try as it might - it was locked.
Harriet looked up at the very top of the door and barked. Mateo reached as high as he could but there was no way he could reach whatever might be on top of the door frame. But at that moment, Harriet yapped at his heel and he picked her up, holding her as high as he could and standing on the very tips of his toes. Harriet leaped out of his hands, swiped at the top of the door, and Mateo heard something metal fall to the floor before the puppy landed safely back in his arms.
Letting Harriet down gently, he saw that on the floor was - a heavy, iron key.
Mateo opened the door nervously, but Harriet walked inside without a care in the world. Inside, was an old office. With an office desk, and office chair, and shelves of books, and wooden filing cabinets and candles - all covered in dust. No-body had been in here for decades.
Mateo went to the window. There were indeed so high that he could see out, not just across town, but all the way to the Albion Sea.
He was reminded where he was when he heard Harriet pawing at the desk. In particular, she was trying to get into the top drawer. Mateo stepped over and slid it open. Inside was a very old roll of paper, what a wizard or an old king might call a scroll.
Seeing it, Harriet wagged her tail furiously and opened her mouth. Mateo let her gently hold it between he teeth, at which point she turned and made her way out of the room. Suddenly alone, Mateo quickly followed her, locking the door behind him and placing the key by the top step - in case Harriet wanted to find it again.
Up three flights of stairs they went, which meant of course that they were headed down towards the bottom floor, when Harriet stopped outside Mrs Perrinpeas office. With the scroll still in her mouth, Harriet seemed to want Mateo to knock - and so, nervously - he did.
Mrs Perrinpeas opened the door, but didn’t seem surprised to see Harriet. She took the scroll from her mouth, and then looked at Mateo. But instead of being cross with him for not having a nap in his classroom, simply nodded to him - and closed the door again.
Harriet and Mateo walked side by side back to Mrs Kipper’s classroom, lay down on a mat, and this time did fall asleep.
The next morning, which was even sunnier and even hotter than the last, everyone arrived at Half Hitch to be told that they must all meet again in the hall before classes. This time, when Mrs Perrinpeas entered, she was holding the scroll that Harriet had found. Indeed, the little brown puppy was walking by her feet.
“This document,” said Mrs Perrinpeas. “Is very important. It has been lost for many years. It was written by Mr Harrydog, the founded of our school, and contains his original rules.”
Everyone looked at each other.
“They are rules,” continued Mrs Perrinpeas, “that are very similar to our own. But I have studied it carefully and it contains one I was not familiar with.”
She opened the scroll and cleared her throat. “On days that might be considered warm and sunny… lessons should be conducted outside.”
There was a muffled laugh and hiss of ‘yessss’ from everyone in the hall.
And for the remainder of that week, and on every sunny day afterwards, classes at half hitch were held outside on the lawns and in the rose gardens. And quite often, Harriet of Half Hitch would come out and lay on the grass and listen. That is, if she wasn’t in her new favourite place to nap - the old office at the top of the tallest tower.
