Mr Hoo's Homework

Each Ten Word Tale is written using ten words suggested by children. Mr Hoo’s Homework is inspired by ten words chosen by Isha, aged 6. Can you spot these words - owl, squirrel, rabbit, fox, mole, hopping, cartwheeling, dance, happily, calmly)?

Chapter 1

Ria the rabbit hurried to the back of the class where she usually sat with her best friend, Fenella the fox. Fenella was sometimes late but today she skidded into her place, her red fur rippling, just as Mr Hoo arrived to take the register.

One of the things Ria liked about Mr Hoo was that he was always perfectly calm and kept control of the class without ever having to raise his voice. Of course, this was mainly because he was an owl. Just the slightest ruffle of a brown, feathered shoulder, a questioning dip of his moon-white face, as if to say Do you really want to do that? would make anyone tremble and behave. Most scary, and kept for something very bad, was a long frowning glance from his piercing eyes, a glance that extended to the tips of his talons and his curved golden beak. Mr Hoo was also wise and kind. Ria liked that too.

Their class was unusually large. There were six rabbits, three foxes including Fenella, also three badger boys, mole twins, a squirrel, seven field mice, six shrews, one water vole, one bat and a variety of birds. They met under an oak tree on Wimbledon Common.

At the end of a day spent studying bark (in Tree Identification), edible and inedible grubs (in Food Technology) and speed and safety skills (PE), Mr Hoo gathered everyone together for some homework news.

Mr Hoo’s special homework project was called: ‘Help a Human’. He gave a few details to get them thinking and promised to explain more the following day. 

Fenella loved the homework project at once. She was very excited, said she had a brilliant idea and needed to talk to her family, and dashed off home.

Ria hated the homework project at once. She walked home so gloomily she did not notice where she was going and almost ran into some actual humans. She hid amongst the trees and watched a lady and a little girl in a pushchair go by on the pebbly path. In one hand the girl hung on very tightly to something that Ria realized was a toy rabbit. It was all wrong: it had very long legs, not chubby muscly ones like her own; it had one ear very twisted and it was spotted and striped in yellow and white. What an insult to real rabbits, Ria thought, twitching her silky nose.

Ria found her mum bringing in the little ones who had been playing in the twilight. She told her all about the homework crisis while she ate her roots.

“Mum. It’s too weird.”

Ria’s mum, who had been in Mr Hoo’s class herself, reminded her Mr Hoo always set a special homework project in the spring term.

“Yes but ...”

“Did Mr Hoo say he’d tell you more tomorrow?”

“Yes but ...”

“I expect he said not to worry, just to THINK about it?”

“Yes but ...”

“Get ready for bed and IF you are lying there calmly when I come and tuck you in, I’ll tell you a story.”

The story made Ria feel better but as she drifted off to sleep she was still worrying. What you could do to ‘help a human’?   

Chapter 2

The next morning Mr Hoo seemed to know they were anxious. “Before we discuss ideas for the project, are there any general questions?”

“Please sir,” said Martin, one of the mice. “I just don’t see WHY. Why help a human? Usually we are told to stay as far away from them as possible.”

“Good question, Martin. These are my thoughts. Humans learn about us, so it is wise that we should learn about them. Understanding all living things is crucial. You all know that whatever happens in the wild, here at school no one eats each other, no one hurts each other or frightens each other. You have learnt to understand one another, even if you are from different families, have different opinions, different habits or habitats, or are simply different sizes, like Brad and Milton.” The tallest badger and the smallest mouse bumped paws, grinning happily.
 

“Humans are living things too. At the end of the project you will understand humans better. You will also have helped someone very different to yourselves. I am giving you two whole months, right until the end of Spring.”

Fenella told Ria and Mr Hoo about her idea. As it was an idea specially for foxes. Mr Hoo put Fenella  in a group with her cousins Felix and Filo to plan carefully and precisely.

Mr Hoo offered some ideas to get other people started.

“Think simply. Ideas don’t need to be complicated. Have you spotted someone who is lonely? Find out where they live. A bird could sing by their window to cheer them up. Want to save the wardens on the Common some valuable time? You could help with litter. You could also fulfill my challenge by NOT doing something. Recently bins in human gardens have been tipped over and rubbish scattered. It would be helpful if the humans did not have to clear up such a mess.”

Fenella’s cousins looked a bit sheepish, if foxes can ever look sheepish, and promised they’d stop raiding bins as well as helping Fenella with her idea.

“And what about NOT damaging or stealing things that humans love?” Mr Hoo went on. “I’m thinking about their gardens: bulbs, shoots, vegetable patches, window boxes.” Guilty shuffling from more creatures.

The squirrel, the mole twins and the tiny shrews came to ask Ria for help. “You are brilliant at ideas, Ria. Can you help us?”

By lunchtime Ria had drawn up careful plans for her friends.

The squirrel had confessed to playing in the attics of houses and sometimes sampling bulbs in window boxes. The moles and shrews admitted there were many extra-tasty bugs in the gardens, which was why they often dug holes there. They all promised to stop. Ria suggested a club to make it fun. They wanted to call themselves The Garden Preservation Society for Squirrels, Moles, Shrews and Others. Ria suggested the Garden Guardians instead. They agreed at once because it made them sound noble and brave.

Ria also helped a group of birds organize an alarm system for two families who never got up early enough and were always seen in a rush in the mornings. There would be sunrise calls from thrushes and blackbirds with two woodpeckers on standby if the songbirds were not loud enough. Ria walked home with the shrews, still stuck for her own idea. In the distance she saw the mum, the girl and the raggedy yellow rabbit again, heading for the tea shop. She was feeling more cheerful today and decided it was good to see a rabbit so loved, even with those long legs and the crazy spots and stripes.   

Chapter 3

At the beginning of the following week Fenella’s plan began.

Hens had been disappearing from three nearby farms. Everyone on the Common knew the farmers suspected foxes. Fenella’s plan was ingenious. If it worked, hens would be saved, the real villains caught and foxes would be heroes. Ria was helping as a look-out because Fenella said a rabbit looked more innocent loitering in a field than a fox. Mr Hoo had allowed Ria and the foxes to take afternoons off school to have naps when they were up keeping guard all night.

When Ria was hopping home for her early sleep on Wednesday afternoon, she saw the little rabbit-girl again with her mum. This time the pushchair was bumping about on the stony path down to the lake. The little girl clutched her rabbit toy very tightly on the bumpy ride. Seeing the little girl loved her rabbit quite desperately, made Ria feel approving. After all the girl had wisely chosen the best animal in the world as a toy companion, even if it was the wrong shape and colour.

Later that evening, on a hill that in daylight gave a view of all three farms, Ria sat in a grassy hollow, her white tail tucked underneath her, waiting. She saw Fenella’s family file out of their den further down the hill, like mini fox-army, ready to protect the farms. After almost three hours of waiting, Ria’s long grey ears twitched to attention. She had heard a sound that should not be there. A car engine. Then she saw lights, two beams moving like yellow snakes on the road. Ria began to thump her feet on the ground, the warning signal for Fenella. The van parked by the hedge and two human figures, their faces hidden, climbed out.

Fenella’s plan was to frighten the thieves and wake the farmers. After a few moments Ria heard the plan begin. The night air was filled with a terrible sound, growing louder and louder until the dark itself seemed to be screaming. Ria knew exactly what the mysterious sound was: foxes, many foxes, all howling at once. Lights came on in the farmhouse windows.

A few moments later Ria saw two humans running towards the van. Behind them, almost invisible in the shadows and still howling, came Fenella’s fox-army. The humans jumped into the back of the van to escape the sound of their cries. They thought they had escaped; they did not know that the farmers, woken by the calling foxes, had seen the strangers and rung the police. Soon the night was full of another piercing sound: police sirens.

The thieves claimed they’d been attacked by screaming ghosts. The police took no notice and bundled them into police cars. The farmers and their families, standing in their pyjamas, cheered and went back to bed. Many foxes were watching, delighted, hidden in the leaves.

“Thank you for being a brilliant look-out,” said Fenella, hugging her friend.

“Well done on a brilliant idea,” said Ria. “You helped humans AND hens AND got some bad people arrested. Mr Hoo is going to be so pleased with you.”   

Chapter 4

Mr Hoo was, of course, very pleased indeed. Fenella, Felix and Filo told their adventure many times, and kept whispering about it during lessons, so Mr Hoo sent everyone off to break early, saying ‘some people’ needed to burn off some energy. Fenella knew Mr Hoo meant her. She could be seen in the corner of the playground running round in circles to calm down and attempting cartwheeling, a manoeuvre which is almost impossible if you have a tail. At last Fenella lay on the grass like an old rug, panting.

While Fenella was burning off left-over energy, Ria felt exhausted and still worried. Perhaps she would be the only animal or bird to fail Mr Hoo’s homework project. What if she never helped a human?

Mr Hoo, who always knew when someone was worrying, came over to speak to her. “Now Ria, of the ten help-a-human actions completed or in progress, eight would never have happened without you. I know you want an idea of your own. Be patient. Sometimes ideas fly into your head when you least expect them.”

Ria went over to talk to the Garden Guardians who told her they were enjoying guarding gardens. “I’m excited about new shoots but I haven’t eaten a single one,” said Sabrina the squirrel proudly. Ria asked if they had any good ideas for her. “I don’t need to do a huge life-saving adventure like the foxes. Something small and kind would be enough.”

They shook their heads but then one mole looked thoughtful. “A girl who lives in our row of house was crying and crying this morning and walking round and round the garden with her mum.”

“I think she’s lost something,” said the littlest shrew. “She was crying like her heart was breaking.” The other shrews nodded their long noses in agreement.

By the end of the day Fenella had gone home half asleep but Ria was feeling properly awake. She decided to find out more about this girl in the garden. She carefully crossed the road and wiggled down a corridor of branches under the long hedge to the last house where the shrews had told her the little girl lived. A willow tree faced the house. Its long branches and spring buds hid Ria like a green cage.

Everything was quiet and empty. Perhaps the family were out. Maybe she should come again another time. It would be dark soon and Ria should be home. She was about to turn back when a lady and a little girl in a pushchair came round the corner. Ria recognized them. Seeing her sad face and her empty hands she thought she knew what the little girl had lost and what she, Ria, could do to help.

The little girl was not crying but her face was full of tears and tiredness. Her mum was talking to her in a low and soothing voice, very kind and soft, a voice that promised that everything would be all right. Her mum picked her up to take her inside. The little girl’s head lolled heavy on her mother’s shoulder. As they passed inside Ria heard one word, one of the few human words Ria knew.

“Rabbit.”

Chapter 5

Ria had not forgotten her family might be worried but she wanted to start looking for the rabbit at once. She needed a Garden Guardian. She stepped back under the hedge and called softly: “Sabrina? Moles? Shrews? Anyone?” Within seconds she had a small crowd of shrews. Beth the bat had also swooped down because with her clever ears she had heard Ria calling. This was perfect. They all listened as she told them about the little girl’s rabbit with its long legs and yellow spots and stripes. Ria sent a message home with Beth, organized the Guardians to search the gardens for the yellow rabbit and set off herself to check every path on the Common where she had seen the little girl and her mum over the last few weeks.

It was twilight now, and shadowy, but this was a good time for rabbits, the time when they usually came out of hiding to play, the time when their eyes were sharpest. Ria began on the main path, checking the edges where the pebbles became grass and mud, brushing back the edges of branches and leaves with her paws, searching and searching. Nothing. She turned down the path through the heather, looking low now, nudging aside little clumps with her nose. Nothing. She would try the pond. A low moon poked its head through the leaves. Two swans floated on the pond, white clouds drifting in a slow dance on the black pool with its glittering moonlight path. Ria searched round the pond and up the other side. Had she missed it further back? Was she looking carefully enough? Had the Garden Guardians found it hours before and already returned to the little girl’s garden? Ria shook these annoying questions from her head. Focus. At last, she saw something: first just a patch of yellow amongst dark leaves, then as she bounded towards it, pale stripy legs, one-eared head lolling. She had found it!

As she climbed the steep path back towards home, carrying the cotton rabbit with some difficulty, she met her mum and Beth coming to find her. Beth flew to tell the Guardians what had happened. Ria walked back to the burrow with her mum, carrying the rabbit between them. Two adventures in two nights. She felt very tired but very happy. Her mum put her straight to bed.

The next morning, before school, Ria was waiting in the willow tree. Her family and the Guardians were there too. She was hoping and hoping that, as it was a bright spring morning, the little girl might come into the garden early. She did not hope in vain. The mum put the little girl on the step with a honey sandwich and went back inside for something. Ria was not going to miss this chance. She had the raggedy yellow rabbit in her mouth. She ran across the garden, jumped onto the step and dropped the rabbit at the little girl’s feet. The little girl dropped her sandwich and grabbed the rabbit, squeaking with happiness. Her mum ran out. “Darling!” she exclaimed astonished.

“Rabbit! Rabbit!” exclaimed the little girl, laughing and laughing, shaking the rabbit by its dangling legs.

“Where did you find it?” said the mother hugging her daughter tightly.

“Rabbit,” said the little girl, trying to tell her mum the wonderful thing, that a rabbit had found her rabbit.

Her mum just heard her little girl being happy.

Ria and her family and friends left the garden quietly, slipping under trees and hedges, careful not to be seen and not to disturb the signs of spring in the gardens by so much as a footmark. They arrived at school like a procession. Mr Hoo made Ria tell everyone her story, while Fenella ran round her in excited circles until Mr Hoo told her to calm down.

“Well done Ria,” said Mr Hoo, spreading his wings wide. “Feeling better now?”

Ria regarded him steadily with her dark amber eyes. “Definitely,” she said. “I think it might be my favourite homework ever.”  

© JSS for L2L2R March 2023

This is the last Ten Word Tale written by our wonderful Story Spinner Julie Sharp, and we are delighted to share it here in celebration of her generous support of the work of Learn to Love to Read. https://www.learn2love2read.org.uk/articles/celebrating-the-life-of-our-story-spinner-julie-sharp