Robin's Book (M/f)
(c) 1998 by Sampast
At school
one day, Robin's second-grade teacher, Ms. Cassidy, brought in a very special
book. It had been given to her when she
was a child. It was covered with fabric
and lace. The children loved to touch
it. Ms. Cassidy said she would let the
children read it if they were very careful with it. She also told the children when they were finished with it to put
it back on the table in the library.
She didn't want them to take it home with them.
One day,
Ms. Cassidy announced to the class, "I can't find that book. Does anyone know where it is?"
The
children looked alarmed. They all
searched the room and the library shelves.
"I
don't understand," Ms. Cassidy said, "Where could it be?" She asked the children to check their desks
and bookbags. Maybe it had gotten
misplaced.
That
afternoon, at home, Robin sat by her bed, admiring the book. She ran her fingers across it, and pet the
book. She opened it up and looked
through the pages. She stood in awe of
this wonderful book.
Jennifer
came into the room. "What's that,
Robin?" she asked.
"It's
a book." Robin answered.
Jenn
asked, "Where did you get it?"
Robin
said, "My teacher gave it to me.
Isn't it beautiful?"
Robin let
Jennifer look at the book. Jenn ran her
fingers over the soft fabric.
"It's so nice," Jenn said.
Robin
said, "You can look at it, but be careful with it. My teacher trusts me with it."
The next
morning at school, Ms. Cassidy went to see Mr. Levine, the principal. "I know how that might sound, Mr.
Levine, but I only want my book back.
I'm not going to accuse the children of taking it, but I want the
parents to be aware that it's missing.
Maybe one of the children brought it home by mistake. I'll just write that I want them to look
around for it."
Mr. Levine
said, "Okay, you can send the note home."
Later that
day, Charlie left early from work to pick the twins up from school. Lisa was sick in bed with the flu. Jennifer was sitting at the kitchen table
doing homework. Charlie was preparing
dinner and taking care of Lisa.
Jennifer
noticed a note on the table and read it.
Her eyes opened wide. She said
to Charlie, "Daddy, I know where this book is." Charlie looked at Jennifer and at the note that
Ms. Cassidy had sent home. Jennifer
said, "Robin has it, under her bed, in a box. She told me the teacher gave it to her."
Jennifer
didn't realize just how much trouble she had gotten Robin into. Charlie went into the girls' bedroom. Robin was not in there. He called out, "ROBIN!"
A voice
answered, "I'm in the bathroom, Daddy!"
Charlie
reached down under Robin's bed and pulled out the box. He opened it up. Inside was the book. He
opened the book. Inside the front
cover, it said, "Property of Joanna P. Cassidy".
Robin came
into the bedroom. Charlie said to her,
"Can you explain why this book is under your bed?"
Robin's
mouth opened wide. "I, uh, my
teacher let me borrow it."
Charlie
said to Robin, "Don't you dare stand there and try to lie to
me!" He went and got the note Ms.
Cassidy sent home. "She didn't let
you borrow it, because she doesn't know where it is!"
Charlie
started screaming at Robin, "You took it, didn't you?"
Robin
started to cry. "I didn't. She gave it to me. She likes me. She let me
borrow it."
Charlie
said, "Come over here, little girl."
Robin
said, "No, Daddy, I didn't..."
Charlie
did not let Robin finish her sentence.
He grabbed her and pulled her to his side. First he pulled her pants down, and then her panties, which fell
to her ankles. Then he lifted her onto
his lap, so that she was staring down at the floor. Then he began to smack her bottom. First one cheek and then the other.
Robin
yelled out, "Daddy, NO! I didn't
do anything wrong. Don't spank
me!" She cried and cried, as her
daddy continued to spank her.
Finally,
he stopped. Robin just sobbed. He put her onto her bed and kissed her
forehead. "Okay, now it's over. You cry it out and then we'll talk it over. I love you, honey."
Meanwhile,
Jennifer had gone into her parent's bedroom, where Lisa was laying in bed. "Mommy, Daddy's spanking
Robin."
Lisa asked
why, and Jenn told her. Then Charlie
came into the room. "Jennifer,
Mommy doesn't feel well. Let's let her
rest."
Lisa asked
what happened with Robin. Charlie
looked at Jennifer. "Jenn
shouldn't have bothered you with this nonsense. I'm taking care of it.
Jennifer, go and finish your homework." Jenn left the room.
Lisa said,
"Honey, I know I'm sick, but we've been married 2 years. When are you going to start letting me into
your childrens' lives?"
Then
Charlie felt bad. He told Lisa what
Robin did. "I guess I went a
little crazy." he said, "I didn't even let her try to explain. But when she started to lie to me, I just
lost it."
Lisa said,
"Why don't you bring her in here and we'll try to figure out what
happened?"
Charlie
went and got Robin. Her eyes were red,
and she stood there rubbing her bottom.
Lisa said, "Robin, why don't you tell us why you had that
book?"
Robin
looked at Charlie and said, "I told Daddy. My teacher let me borrow it.
She trusts me." Robin
continued to cry.
Charlie
left the room to help Jennifer in the bathroom, and Lisa and Robin continued to
talk. Robin insisted that Ms. Cassidy
had lent her the book. She couldn't
explain the note. Robin had just
convinced herself that what she did was right.
At dinner,
Robin was very quiet. She could barely
eat. She just pushed her food around
on her plate. In her mind, she was
going over what she had done, and how she justified it. She was also thinking about what her parents
had said to her.
Jennifer
was telling Charlie some story about what happened at school. Lisa was still sick in bed. She couldn't even come to the table.
"Robin,
I want you to eat that chicken. Let's
go!" Charlie said.
Then Robin
started to cry. Charlie asked Jennifer
if she was finished. When she said she
was, he excused her from the table. He said
to Robin, "Come here."
He took
her in his arms and held her while she cried.
"I
was bad, Daddy. What I did was
bad! I stole something from my
teacher. I can't believe I did
that!" Robin cried into Charlie's
shoulder.
The phone
rang. Jenn answered. It was Jack. Charlie said, "Tell him I'll call him back later."
Jennifer
took a bath, while Robin finished her homework. She and Charlie had had a long talk about what Robin would have
to do in the morning.
"I
don't want to tell her the truth. I'll
just put the book back. Please, Daddy,
she's going to be so disappointed with me.
She'll hate me."
But
Charlie insisted that she had to face up to what she did, and tell the
truth. Charlie was cleaning up the
dinner dishes, when he heard Jennifer jump out of the tub and yell his
name. He ran in, and found Jennifer
throwing up into the toilet. He felt
her head but she did not have a fever.
"Oh,
honey, I hope you didn’t catch the flu from Mommy," Charlie said. He put both girls to bed, and went to check
on Lisa. She was up. He filled her in on the rest of the
evening's events.
The next
morning, Charlie went to check on Jennifer.
She was in the bathroom with an upset stomach. "You're not going to school today," he told her. He went into his bedroom. Lisa was in their bathroom. He said, "Well, I guess I'm taking off
work today. Jennifer is sick."
"Oh,
no!" Lisa said, "I'm okay. I
can take care of her. You go to
work."
Charlie
wasn't sure, but Lisa insisted she would be fine. "If you can't handle it, do you promise you'll call me at
work or at least call your sister?" Charlie asked.
Lisa said
she would. Charlie brought Robin to
school. They went into the principal's
office. Charlie made Robin tell her uncle
what she did.
Jack said,
"I'm very disappointed in you, Robin.
I didn't think you would do such a thing."
Jack
called Ms. Cassidy to the office. Robin
told Ms. Cassidy about the book.
Charlie assured Ms. Cassidy that Robin had been properly punished. Mr. Levine told Ms. Cassidy that if she
wanted the incident written up, Robin would be suspended for a couple of
days.
Ms.
Cassidy didn't think that was necessary.
She was disappointed in Robin, also, but she was glad to get her book
back. "It will take me awhile to
trust you again, Robin." Robin's
heart sank. She had let down her
teacher. She was going to do whatever
it took to gain back Ms. Cassidy's trust.
Ms.
Cassidy thought Robin had been punished enough, and was punishing herself
enough, and decided not to tell the other kids that Robin had taken her
book. She just put it back on the
library table, and faked surprise when the other kids found it. She and Robin exchanged a wink.
Robin
tried very hard the next few months to win back Ms. Cassidy's trust. She helped out whenever she could. Even the other kids noticed that Robin was
becoming Ms. Cassidy's class pet. But
they didn't care. They knew that Robin
was a sweet little girl, and they knew she was very helpful. Robin even helped the other kids in the
class with their work. She was one of
the smartest kids in the second grade, and she wasn't mean about it.
One day,
Ms. Cassidy borrowed a book from Mrs. Fox.
It was called Elmer, and it was about a patchwork elephant. The children loved the story, and they even
did an art project and a writing assignment from the book.
Ms.
Cassidy placed the book in the reading corner and told the children to be very
careful with it, since it did not belong to her. She also told them they could not borrow it to take home, because
it belonged to another teacher and she was responsible for it.
A few days
later, Mrs. Fox asked Ms. Cassidy if she was through with the book, because
another teacher, Mrs. Penner, wanted to borrow it. They were at lunch, and Joanna said, "Sure, Denny, I'll
send it down to you after lunch."
When they
got back to the classroom, Ms. Cassidy looked in the spot where she had put the
book. It wasn't there. "Boys and girls, do any of you have ‘Elmer’?" The children all shook their heads. "Well, does anyone know where it
is? I have to give it back to Mrs. Fox;
she needs it."
The
children began to search the room. No
one could find the book. Ms. Cassidy
asked the children to check their desks and bookbags, thinking they might have
put it in there by mistake.
"I
don't understand where it could be," Ms. Cassidy said. Then she had a thought. She called Robin over to her desk. "Robin, did you take the
book?"
Robin was
shocked. "NO, Ms. Cassidy, I
didn't take it."
Ms.
Cassidy asked, "Are you sure? Tell
me now. Did you take the
book?"
Robin
shook her head vehemently. Ms. Cassidy
addressed the class, "I didn't see ‘Elmer’ on the table this morning. Who was the last person to read
it?" A little boy, named
Rob, said, "I saw Robin and Patty reading it yesterday
afternoon."
Ms.
Cassidy turned to Patty. Patty replied,
"We were, but then I had to go to my tutor, so I gave it to
Robin."
Robin
said, "Yea, but then when I finished, I put it back on the table. I think Walter was reading it after
me."
Everyone
looked at Walter. He said, "Uh-uh,
I didn't even read ‘Elmer’ yet. I
didn't have it yesterday."
All the
children looked back at Robin. Ms.
Cassidy said, "Well, Robin, you were the last to have it. Are you sure you didn't take it home by
mistake?"
Robin
said, "No, Ms. Cassidy, I put the book back on the table when I was done
with it."
Ms.
Cassidy took Robin aside. "We're
going to gym in a few minutes. You'll
come with me to see the principal and we'll get this matter settled."
As much as
Robin hated gym, she did not want to go to the office. She knew she did not take the book. She was very upset that her teacher did not
believe her.
Ten minutes
later, Robin and Ms. Cassidy were waiting to see Mr. Levine. When he opened the door to let them in, all
Robin wanted to do was run into her uncle's arms and be picked up, but she
could not. Ms. Cassidy explained the
situation to Mr. Levine. He listened
and nodded his head.
Robin
started to cry. "I didn't take the
book. I didn't."
Mr. Levine
said, "Well, you took a book once before, Robin. Ms. Cassidy doesn't know if you're telling the truth. And the kids say you were the last one to read
the book. I think we should call your
parents and let them know what's going on." He tried the house, but there was no answer. He knew Lisa was at work, but he just did it
for the teacher's sake. Then he called
Charlie at work.
When
Charlie came to the phone, Jack said, "Yes, Mr. Clemente, this is Mr.
Levine, the principal at your daughter's school."
On the
other end, Charlie said, "What's the matter, Jack? Somebody in the office with you?"
Jack said,
"Yes, I'm here with Robin and her teacher, Ms. Cassidy," and he went
on to explain what she told him. Mr.
Levine then handed the phone to Ms. Cassidy and she spoke to Charlie.
Charlie
said, "Well, did Robin say she didn't take it? Did you take any of the other kids aside and ask if they might
have taken the book? Obviously, no
one's going to admit to stealing in front of the whole class."
When Ms.
Cassidy said no, she had no reason to believe any of the other kids did it,
Charlie got mad. He felt she was
singling Robin out. He asked to speak
to Robin.
Robin very
tentatively picked up the phone.
"Hello? Hi, Daddy,"
she said timidly. Charlie asked her if
she took the book. "No,
Daddy. I read it yesterday and then put
it right back in its spot." She
listened. "Yes, Daddy, I told her,
but she doesn't believe me."
Then Robin
started to cry. She also started to
jump a little. Jack recognized it as
"the pee-pee dance". Charlie
said, "We'll talk about this when I get home from work. I'll be home at dinner time tonight. Now you calm down, and go wash yourself
up. We'll work it out, okay?"
Robin
said, "Okay," and handed the phone back to Jack. Jack listened.
Charlie
said, "Tell Ms. Cassidy that we will look for the book tonight. And that I will speak to Robin about this
matter further."
Jack
returned the phone to the cradle. Then
he said, "Robin, why don't you go back and use my bathroom, and wash your
face?"
Ms.
Cassidy thought that was strange.
"Do you always let students use your bathroom, Mr. Levine?"
Jack said,
"Yes, of course. If they're in my
office and they have to use it, I do.
It's much better than sending them with a pass down the hall, to end up
getting in more trouble."
Robin came
out of the bathroom. She had stopped
crying but her nose and eyes were all red.
Mr. Levine said, "Okay, Robin, you go back with your
teacher." To Ms. Cassidy, he said,
"Mr. Clemente told me to tell you that he will speak to Robin tonight when
he gets home, and that they will look for the book."
Robin said,
"But I didn't take it!" And
she started to cry all over again.
When Ms.
Cassidy offered Robin her hand to go back to class, Robin wouldn't take
it. Mr. Levine looked at his
watch. "Ms. Cassidy, why don't you
salvage what's left of your prep, it's about 20 more minutes, and then I will
send Robin back to class. It's too late
for her to join the gym class, and it will give her some time to calm
down."
Ms.
Cassidy agreed and left. Jack got up
and locked the door. He told his
secretary to hold his calls and buzz him in 15 minutes. Then he picked Robin up and pulled her into
his lap. He let her cry for a while,
while he rubbed her back.
When she
calmed down, she asked, "Uncle Jack, you believe me, don't you?"
Jack
answered, "As your uncle, I do believe you, but as the principal, I can't
say either way." He held her until
his secretary buzzed him, and then sent her back to class.
Even the
other kids noticed a difference in the way Ms. Cassidy treated Robin the rest
of the afternoon. She did not call on
Robin for answers, and did not ask Robin to help her clean up at the end of the
day. Robin didn't care. She knew she did not steal the book. And she was mad at her teacher for thinking
she did it.
At 3:00,
Ms. Cassidy waited for the parents to come.
When she saw Robin's mother, she pulled her aside. "Mrs. Clemente, I already spoke to your
husband earlier today, but I also wanted to let you know what happened
today." Ms. Cassidy went on to
explain the incident with the book.
Robin
started to scream and yell, and carry on.
She started to cry. "I
didn't do it, Mommy, I told her, but she doesn't believe me. I didn't do it."
Lisa said,
"Robin, shush, I'm trying to listen to your teacher." But Robin didn't shush; she continued to
scream and yell and carry on. Lisa told
the teacher, "Well, we will speak to Robin tonight and we will look for
the book. If we don't find it, you'll
let us know the price, and we'll pay for it."
And then
she grabbed Robin and pulled her away.
Robin continued to carry on.
Lisa picked Jennifer up at her class and they got in the car, and went
home.
Robin
screamed the whole way home. "I
didn't do it. Mommy, I didn't take that
book!"
Jennifer
pretty much figured out what had happened just listening to her sister
whining. When they got home, Lisa said
to Robin, "Now, you go in my bedroom and wait for me on my bed."
She poured
Jennifer some milk and gave her some cookies, and told her to start her
homework. When Lisa got into the
bedroom, she said to Robin, "Get over here! Don't you ever do that again.
You embarrassed me and you embarrassed yourself, throwing a tantrum like
that. You're too big for
that!"
Robin
shouted, "But you weren't listening to me! No one was listening to me.
I said I didn't do it!"
Robin spat out those last words, and threw herself on the bed crying
hysterically.
Lisa said,
"Don't you speak to me like that, young lady."
Lisa
pulled Robin into her lap. She tugged
her pants and panties down to her knees.
Then she spanked and spanked until Robin was crying uncontrollably.
Then Lisa
said, "And if you ever carry on like this again, and speak to me in that
manner, you will get your mouth washed out with soap. Do you hear me?" Lisa asked. Robin nodded through her tears.
Then Lisa said, "Now, go wash yourself up." Robin left the room.
When she
came back, Lisa said, "Come, let's go look for that book."
Robin
couldn't believe it. Her mother didn't
believe her. She cried even more. Lisa went into the girls' room, and started
looking for the book. Robin followed
her in. Lisa was looking under the
bed. She said to Robin, "Come on,
help me look."
Robin
said, "No, I don't have to look for it because I know it's not here. I didn't take that book!" Again, she spat the words out.
Lisa was
mad. "I told you not to speak that
way to me again. Let's go!"
She led
Robin into the bathroom. Lisa made
Robin sit on the closet toilet lid. It
hurt, since her bottom was still sore from her spanking.
Robin
jumped up and said, "I'll just stand, Mommy."
Lisa said,
"Oh, no, you won't, you sit right back down." Then she lightly pushed Robin down onto the
toilet and put a bar of soap in her mouth.
The phone
rang. Jennifer answered it. "Oh, hi, Daddy. Yeah, I'm doing my homework. Mommy's in the bathroom with Robin. She just spanked her."
Lisa came
in. "That's enough, finish your
homework," and took the receiver.
"Hi, honey."
Charlie
asked what happened. Lisa told her what
the teacher said, and how Robin carried on.
Charlie said, "That teacher made me so mad. If Robin says she didn't take that book,
then I believe her. Robin doesn't lie,
or at least she always confesses when pressed.
If she carried on that much, then she's probably frustrated that no one
is believing her."
Lisa said,
"Well, I didn't spank her because I thought she stole the book. I punished her because of the way she
carried on, and the way she spoke to me.
Now she has a bar of soap in her mouth because she did it
again."
Charlie
said, "Well, I can understand about that.
Look, I have to go. I'll try to
be home by 6:00 and we'll sit Robin down and talk to her then. See you later, hon, I love you." They both hung up.
After
hanging up the phone, Lisa went into the bathroom and took the bar of soap out
of Robin's mouth. "Okay, rinse
your mouth out."
Robin did
it. Then Lisa said, "Okay, now do
you have anything you want to say to me?"
Robin shook her head no. Lisa
said, "Are you sure? Nothing nice
you want to say to me?"
When Robin
shook her head no again, Lisa said, "Okay, then I want you to go into your
room and do your homework and I don't want you to show your face until your
father comes home."
Robin
grabbed her bookbag and went into her room, and closed the door. Lisa went into the kitchen to start dinner.
True to
his word, Charlie was home by 6:00.
When he came into the apartment, Jennifer was sitting at the kitchen
table coloring. He kissed her on the
forehead. He kissed Lisa, and then
asked, "Where's Robin?"
Jenn
answered, "She's in our room doing her homework."
Charlie
said, "Homework in the bedroom?
Since when?"
Lisa
answered, "Since she wouldn't apologize to me and I made her go in there
until you got home," and she filled Charlie in on what happened after they
hung up the phone.
He said,
"Well, let's go straighten that out right now."
Lisa and
Charlie knocked on the girls' bedroom door.
No one answered. Lisa said,
"She's
been in there awhile, maybe she fell asleep."
Charlie
pushed the door open. Robin was on her
bed reading a book. She looked up. "DADDY!" She ran over to Charlie and threw her arms around his neck. He picked her up and kissed her. Then he put her back down.
"Come,
honey, sit down, we have to talk."
Robin
looked a little worried. "Daddy, I
didn't take that book."
Charlie
said, "We'll get to the book in a minute.
First, isn't there something you need to say to Mommy?" Robin looked at Lisa, then at Charlie, and
then at the floor.
Charlie
lifted up her chin, and said, "Robin?"
Robin
looked back down at the floor. Charlie
said, "I'm warning, you, honey."
Finally,
she said, "I'm sorry for the way I talked to you, Mommy, but I was upset
that you didn't believe me."
Charlie
said, "Robin, we want to believe you, but you must never talk to your
mother or anyone else that way again.
Do you understand?" Robin
nodded. Then Charlie said, "Okay,
tell us about the book."
By the end
of the discussion, Charlie and Lisa were convinced that Robin was telling the
truth. Charlie said, "I'll go into
school with you tomorrow, and we'll face Ms. Cassidy together. Okay, honey?"
Robin
smiled. "I'm so glad you believe
me."
The next
morning, Joanna was puttering around in the classroom. Her friend, Fran, came in. They started to talk. "Oh, by the way, Joanna, I have that book,"
Fran said.
Joanna
said, "What book?"
Fran said,
"Elmer, the one you borrowed from Denny.
I needed it, and when I passed by your room yesterday, I saw it on the
table, so I took it."
Joanna
looked shocked. Fran said, "I'm
sorry, I was going to tell you at the end of the day, but I had to leave right
away, and I didn't see you at dismissal."
Joanna was
still trying to digest this bit of news.
"So, you had ‘Elmer’? Oh,
shit! Oh, my god, what am I going to
do?!"
Fran said,
"What? What happened?"
Joanna
filled her in on what happened with Robin.
She continued, "And that father was so mad at me for accusing his
daughter. What's he going to think of
me now? Oh, man, I really messed
up. Fran, come with me to talk to Mr.
Levine. Maybe he'll know what I should
do."
Mr. Levine
listened as Ms. Cassidy told him what had happened to the "missing"
book. He said, "Well, you'll just
have to apologize to both Robin and her parents. Now I guess you've learned a good lesson-not to jump to
conclusions, huh?"
Joanna
nodded. She felt really stupid. She was still in the office when Charlie
showed up with Robin 15 minutes later.
Charlie was surprised to see Robin's teacher in the office. No one knew they were coming.
The end.