Christopher’s class did show up at ten. Only a third of the class had come, seven kids. As the four girls and three boys browsed the shelves after the lesson, Eloise, Christopher’s teaching assistant, whispered to Gavin it was like that all over the school. She had heard the superintendent was going to close down the whole shebang today anyway. God only knew what took the man so long, what with earthquakes and volcanoes, and now those big, multiplying hurricanes. Gavin nodded, half-listening, not surprised the system was going to close down for the duration, whatever that meant, and he was sure the school board and the superintendent had no idea, either. After the seven kids found and checked out their books, Gavin had them read quietly, promising another chapter from Ramona Quimby, Age 8,
