It was a cold, snowy day in the small town of Columbia. All the students were in school, waiting anxiously for the bell to ring so Christmas vacation could begin. In Ms. Neal’s class though, the students’ hopes for a fun Christmas were being crushed.

“Okay class,” she said. “You all know Christmas vacation is only a few minutes away. But before you all leave, I have to give you your assignments.” The whole class groaned. “I want to make sure you all keep busy instead of slacking off for two weeks. First of all, I’d like you all to write a five page report on exactly what you do on time your time off. I would also like you to make a chart displaying how the cons of Christmas outweigh the pros.”

A student timidly asked, “How long does that have to be, Ms. Neal?”

“Oh, two pages I guess. Since there’s a little more time, I have one more assignment. We’ll have an exam when you come back so study well.”

“Ms. Neal!” a student shouted. “How can you do that? I’m going to Ohio to visit! I won’t have any time to write all those reports and study!”

“Well, you’ll just have to deal with it. That’s the assignment. I can guarantee that you’ll fail if you’re missing one of the reports, or if you don’t pass that test!”

The bell rang. All of the students walked out of the classroom with their heads hanging to the ground. One in particular, Candace Bell, hung her head even further. She was going to have to work all vacation to save up a little money so she could buy gifts for her family, but she wasn’t going have time to work since she had to write all these reports.

Ms. Neal sat at her desk and watched the students walk to their cars and busses. She hadn’t been satisfied with the assignments, but it was all she had time to assign. She watched the snow fall and felt bitterness inside. I hate Christmas. I hate it more than anything in the world.

Ms. Neal drove home and cooked some chicken soup. She relaxed in her chair and turned on the television set.

“All the kids are starting their Christmas celebrations,” a news reporter said. “And the snow is really going to come down tonight. It looks like we’ll have the first white Christmas in a long time.”

She angrily changed the channels, but all she could find was Christmas this, and Christmas that. She was really starting to lose her patience. “Shut up!” she’d yell at them. “Please, no more Christmas!”

There was a noise in the kitchen. “Hello? Is anyone there?” No answer. She grabbed a baseball bat that was lying near her door. As she proceeded slowly toward the kitchen, she heard another noise behind her.

“Ms. Neal,” a voice called. “You made a very bad mistake today.” She looked all around but could see no one. Then she looked up at the ceiling and saw a face begin to form in it. It was one of her former students, Amanda. “You will be visited by three teachers, starting at eight o’clock. Heed their warnings, or else I fear the worst.” Amanda’s face disappeared.

“What was that?” she whispered into the empty room. She decided it was time to go to bed. If ghosts were going to visit her, she didn’t want to wait for them. If she wasn’t awake, maybe they’d leave her alone.

As she lay down in her bed, she was sure she wouldn’t be able to sleep. Amanda had left her with an uneasy feeling, and every time she closed her eyes, she saw Amanda’s face coming out of the ceiling.

At eight o’clock, Ms. Neal looked around her room. No ghosts. Maybe she’d be lucky. As soon as the thought crossed her mind though, there was another voice seeming to come from everywhere.

“Hello, Ms. Neal.” She jumped from her bed and looked around. There, at the foot of her bed, was Mr. Chamberlain. “How’re you doing?”

Ms. Neal wasn’t sure how to react. “Well, I’d be better if you weren’t here I suppose.”

“Well, I had to come. You’ve got to do something about your attitude. You ruined the holiday for a lot of kids. Get out of bed. It’s time to go.”

“Where?”

“Come on; don’t ask questions. Just close your eyes until you hear new sounds around you.”

Ms. Neal did as she was told. She closed her eyes until she heard a teacher barking orders out to students.

“You can open your eyes. Do you recognize that ol’ lady up there?”

Ms. Neal looked closely at the lady. She was a short, mean looking woman, with a ruler in one hand, and a long list of things to do in the other. She was reading off the list, and when one of the students groaned, or even flinched, she would hit the student’s knuckles with the ruler. “Yes, I know her. She was my ninth-grade English teacher. I hated that woman.”

“If you look over yonder,” Mr. Chamberlain said, “you’ll see yourself sitting in that desk in the corner. You don’t look very happy about all the work she’s giving you over Christmas vacation.”

“You all must write three compositions and then we’ll have a test over all the past grammar lessons as soon as you return,” the teacher said.

Ms. Neal felt all the bitterness come back to her. She remembered this day very well. The teacher had assigned all that work, and she didn’t have a chance to rest during any of her vacation. From that day on, she had always wanted to get back at that teacher, but she never got the chance.

“Do you remember how you felt?” Mr. Chamberlain asked.

“Yes, I do. But I’m not that bad. None of my students feel like that! I didn’t get a chance to assign enough!”

The young girl who was Ms. Neal raised her hand. “How do you expect us to do all of this work? I have to spend time with my family, not write reports! I don’t think I’m going to do them.”

“You did end up doing all that work, though, didn’t you? The teacher threatened to fail ya’ll if you didn’t do what she demanded. You’ve held a grudge against that lady ever since. Has it ever occurred to you that this experience influenced your life? You and that ninth-grade teacher of yours almost act like sisters, it seems to me.”

“Did you come here to insult me? Is that what your purpose is? You’re not trying to help me! Send me back! I don’t have to sit here and listen to this!” She closed her eyes and waited. Within a minute she felt herself fall onto her bed, and breathed a sigh of relief when her head hit the pillow. She looked all around, feeling bad about how she had acted toward Mr. Chamberlain, but he was gone.

She was exhausted from the traveling she had just done, and fell asleep almost instantly. But before she could sleep too long, she was awakened by having the covers thrown off her. As soon as the coldness of her room touched her face, she jumped out of bed. There, in the window, was Mrs. Fullerton, waving energetically. Before Ms. Neal could even wave back, Mrs. Fullerton had walked in right through the wall.

“Hi, Ms. Neal! I can tell Mr. Chamberlain didn’t have a lot of luck with you. I hope I can influence you a little bit more. I think you know the drill. Just close your eyes and we’ll be on our way.”

“Okay, but just don’t start insulting me like Mr. Chamberlain did. I won’t cooperate if you do.” She closed her eyes, and soon she heard a girl’s voice. There stood Candace, looking as innocent as a five-year-old.

Candace was saying, “We’ve got reports to do and a huge test to study for. I’m not going to have any time to save up money so I can get you all gifts.” She was on the verge of tears.

“Well,” her father, Mr. Bell, said, “you know homework is important. It doesn’t matter to us if you get us anything or not. Just try to get the reports finished so you can at least spend some time with us.”

“Okay, Dad,” she said sadly. “I’ll be in my room whenever dinner’s done.” Candace walked up to her room. Ms. Neal felt a tinge of guilt, but tried her best to ignore it.

“Well, how do you feel about that, Ms. Neal? It’s all your fault that Candace can’t work for any money. She had been looking forward to Christmas until you gave her so much work to do.

“Don’t try to send me on a guilt trip, It won’t work.” She was lying, but there was no way she was going to give in to any of this. She knew that she hadn’t assigned too much work; she had assigned too little.

Ms. Fullerton and Ms. Neal went to Candace’s room and watched her work. She never said a word, but kept writing and writing. Then, Mrs. Fullerton turned to Ms. Neal. “Well, does that say anything about what you’ve done? That’s all she’s going to do , and on Christmas morning she won’t have anything to give to anyone, except some homework for you.”

“1 thought I asked you not to insult me,” she said, but she had lost all the assertiveness that had been in her voice. The guilt was starting to overtake her, and she wasn’t used to that feeling. “Take me home.”

“Close your eyes, then.” She did as she was told, and again fell into her bed. How many ghosts had Amanda said? Three? She didn’t think she could handle another. Instead of going to sleep, she sat upright in bed, waiting for the last ghost to come, and soon enough, it did.

“Mr. Walker?” Ms. Neal asked, shocked. “You’re not going to try to make me feel guilty are you?”

“Hello. Let’s just get right down to business, okay? I’m the ghost of the future. Now, close your eyes.” When she heard the new sounds though, she didn’t want to open her eyes. “Ms. Neal? Open your eyes. I’m not just going to leave you here.”

Reluctantly, she did. She was in a classroom, her classroom actually, but there was an old lady in the front of the room. The old lady was looking around sadly as a principal spoke to her.

“Ms. Neal, we have to let you go. No students are taking your class, and we can’t do anything with a teacher who has no students. I’m sorry.” The principal walked away, and Ms. Neal looked at Mr. Walker.

“That’s...That’s me?”

He nodded.

The old lady slowly packed up her things and walked out of the classroom. She knew her career was over. Kids everywhere had heard about her class, and none would ever be willing to take it. Ms. Neal closed her eyes again and then saw the same old apartment, and there she was, sitting in her chair. Instead of crying, though, she was staring furiously at her cat, Max, who just stared back. Max didn’t understand what was going on and decided to leave.

“Is this what you wanted to have happen?” Mr. Walker asked.

Ms. Neal looked at the ground, not wanting to say another word. Instead, she just closed her eyes again. A few seconds later she was in her bed again, but Mr. Walker was still there.

“Remember what you’ve seen,” he said, then disappeared. Instantly, Ms. Neal fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The next morning, Ms. Neal awoke refreshed and in a very good mood. She remembered what had happened the night before, and felt it was time to fix her mistakes. Quickly she dressed and walked outside to find that everything was covered in white, fluffy snow. She found it a beautiful sight. Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to look at it right now. She had to hurry over to Candace’s house, and luckily it was close.

Ms. Neal knocked on the door. Mr. Bell answered. “May I speak with Candace, please?”
“Oh hello, Ms. Neal,” Mr. Bell said, sounding annoyed. “Guess you’ve come to pick up her homework. I’ll go get her.”

“Candace, I didn’t come for your homework. We’re going shopping. Go put on a coat, and don’t tell your dad where you’re going.” Candace managed to get away with only a strange look from Mr. Bell.

“Okay, Candace. We’re going to any stores you want, and I’ll buy you whatever you want to get your family for Christmas. Don’t bother with the homework either, the assignment is canceled.”

Candace didn’t bother to question. She knew exactly what she wanted to get everyone, and Ms. Neal gladly handed over the money to pay for the gifts. Ms. Neal then took Candace home, and as Candace walked up to the door, Ms. Neal shouted after her, “Have a merry Christmas, Candace!” Candace just smiled and walked into the house.

Ms. Neal had one more place to go. On her trip with Candace, she had seen some teachers sitting together at Applebee’s. She just hoped they were still there.

When she walked in, she saw them. There, sitting at a table, was Mr. Chamberlain, Mrs. Fullerton and Mr. Walker. Mrs. Fullerton was speaking.

“Yeah, I had this dream last night...It was the strangest thing. I was over at Ms. Neal’s place, and...”

“Hello!” Ms. Neal said. “I don’t know how you did it, but I just wanted to thank you all! I don’t see how I could have hated Christmas so much!” She ran around the table giving them each a quick hug. “I’m on the run. I have to go tell all the students that there’s no homework. Thank you, for coming over, thank you so much!” Ms. Neal then ran out to her car.

Mr. Walker gave Mrs. Fullerton a strange look. “What a strange woman she is!” he said. Mrs. Fullerton and Mr. Chamberlain nodded.

“Anyway,” Mrs. Fullerton said, “I had this dream last night...”

1998