Goodbye, Mrs. Wilder 4/5

At school, Harriet is leading the class in a French lesson. She starts counting at them and expects them to repeat. Okay, I took two years of French and I know my accent is not good but it was not as bad as what is going down in Walnut Grove at this very moment. Also, “trois” is not two syllables (nor is it “trios”, Microsoft Word). After they reach ten/“dix” Mrs. Oleson tells the class their pronunciation is terrible, which is rich considering she hits the “p” hard in “sept”. She asks Albert to stand up so she can ridicule his pronunciation. As Mrs. Oleson demonstrates how to say “tuh-wahhhhhhhh” Ralph pulls Willie’s hair and he yelps again. Harriet sends Willie to the corner, which is dumb because she should have seen what Ralph did since they are sitting right next to Albert.

The kids leave school and are really getting fed up with the new classes. Willie runs to catch up with Ralph and Albert. He threatens Ralph that he won’t get fooled again. Ralph says “oh yeah?” and then Willie takes a swing. Ralph ducks and he happens to have been standing in front of a post which gets the brunt of Willie’s wrath. Hehe. Albert and Ralph head home and Albert starts to reminisce about the days when Laura was teaching. Ralph suggests trying to get Laura to come back. He asks when Mr. Stoeler is coming back and the answer is tomorrow. Ooo, a conspiracy.

Laura is hoeing in the garden as Albert approaches. They chit chat for a bit, talking about how people can’t stand Mrs. Oleson. Albert tells his sister that the kids want her back and Laura admits that she wants to return as well. In fact, she was hoping that Harriet would fail so that the parents would beg Laura to come back. Albert says that could still happen, but Laura is pessimistic. Albert reminds Laura that Mr. Stoeler is coming back for the inspection and hints that if things look bad, the school won’t get the grant. Laura is picking up what Albert is laying down but she doesn’t seem to be fully on board with whatever Albert is planning.

That evening at dinner, Manly is wondering if Albert is really going to pull some shenanigans. Laura isn’t sure, but she’s confident that things will work out. She brings out supper and Almanzo asks what it is. That is not a good way to start a meal. Tonight’s entrée is Chilled Lemon Chicken with Aspic and Tarragon. Almanzo seems to disagree with at least 80% of the contents of that description. Laura is excited about trying something new but her hubby is positively befuddled by what is on his plate. He keeps asking questions and Laura is not amused. Manly says he might like it if he took the skin off (BAD IDEA) and Laura storms out.

Over at the Oleson house, Harriet is putting on her night mask as she preps for tomorrow’s French demonstration. Nels is trying to stay as uninvolved in the whole teaching fiasco that is likely to unfold.

Back at the Wilder house, Laura is grousing in the bedroom. Almanzo enters and apologizes for the whole dinner debacle. Turns out Laura is actually upset about what she suspects will happen tomorrow at the school and that she kind of wants whatever is about to go down to happen. She really wants her job back, but she doesn’t know if she wants Mrs. Oleson to quit under these circumstances. Personally, I would prefer circumstances that involve tar and feathers, but Laura is nicer than I am.