Stay Tuned!

I'm cornered. One false move and they'll tear me to peices. If I let let down my guard for just one minute, show them how scared I really am, it'll all be over. Just when I think that I can't take any more, that this may be the end of old Ned, the bell rings and they pack up their bags and saunter out into the hall. That's right. I am now oficially a sub in the Chicago Public Schools.
I lay awake on the night before my first assignment picturing the worst case scenario: a group of hulking 8th graders, no lesson plans, no time to prep. I tell myself, "c'mon, what are the chances. Odds are you'll be a teacher's assistant in a rich school's kindergarten and they'll have you shelving books all day." I finally drift off thinking about a new worse case scenario... should "the Magic Treehouse" go in "easy reader," or "young adult." I get my phone call to report to Audobon School which isn't too far away. At first I think she says "Autobahn" and I think, "sweet, maybe this is the Kraftwerk School of Music I've heard so much about."

I arrive just as the first bell rings to start class.
Oh well, there goes my prep time
"Mr. Harkness, thanks for coming on such short notice. A teacher called in sick this morning."
Oh dear. No lesson plans for me.
"I'll take you upstairs to the... MIDDLE SCHOOL."
This isn't happening.
"This is room 209. You've got eighth graders to start with and later a class of sixth and seventh."
WHY DID I EVER GET INTO THIS LOUSY BUSINESS IN THE FIRST PLACE? WHAT KIND OF A MASOCHIST DOES THIS FOR A LIVING!!!!???
"If you are ready, I'll bring your class in."
What choice do I have? Make it quick.

Will Ned face his fears and come out victorious in this epic battle of wills, or will he be chewed up and spat out like so much notebook paper?
Join us next week to find out.