Ep 8 Mystery Sound Lost and Found

Something is interrupting Mr McMarlow’s math teaching. And it sounds a bit like ‘meow’! 

Copyright Simon Cossey

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to the Telling on the Teacher podcast. This story is called Mystery Sound Lost and Found. There's a teacher at our school who always seems to break the rules carrying on the teacher. Mr McMarlow was running late to class and he was rushing into the classroom at the start of the day before school. Jackie and Sophie were already there helping to put the chairs down in the classroom. Mr McMarlow, said Sophie, we heard the sound. It heard it sounded it heard we heard it sound like a baby crying. But then when we looked around, there was there's no one here. Sounds a bit strange, said Mr McMarlow. Sorry, can't stop. Gotta get these photocopied off. Back soon. Sophie and Jackie listened again. What is that sound? said Sophie. It sounds sounds like crying. But then some of the other boys came in and they were being a bit noisy and all the kids were getting their things ready and they couldn't hear any more sounds anymore. And then school started and they forgot about it. Until maths time, when Mr McMahlow was trying to teach three digit digit subtraction. Three digit subtraction to his maths group. Okay, said Mr McMahlow, thinking up a question on the spot. I have three hundred and sixty-one burgers, and if I eat two hundred and seventy-five, what will I have? He started to write it up on the board. A stomachache, said Hudson. Everyone laughed. No, I didn't mean I would eat them all. I meant um I meant I meant I was having a school uh burger party, and that's how many the kids ate. And then how many are left for the parents? I wonder if anyone can explain how they got their answer. I'll have a go, said Jackie. Um to get two hundred and seventy-five up to three hundred and sixty-one, the difference would be meow. The difference would be meow, said Mr. McMarlow. No, no, the difference would be eighty-six. Um Hey, I hope there's no mayo, said um said Jacob. I hope there's no mayo on my dad's burger, because he he hates mayo. Hmm, okay, no mayo on your dad's burger, fine, said Mr. McMahlow. Um, okay, so we've got the answer to that one. Did everyone understand how Jackie got that? Alright, okay, um, let's see if we can do another one. Um a family is on holiday and they have to stop uh after 220 kilometers. They're driving on a road trip, they've got to stop at grandma's house. 220 kilometers from home to grandma's house to pick up the key to the holiday house, and then they keep driving and it's 515 kilometers from home all the way to the holiday house. And then they realize that they left their key at grandma's house, so they've got to go back. If they have to go all the way back, they're gonna run out of petrol, said Thomas. Ah, but not if they have a hybrid, said Edzy. The Toyota Rav 4 hybrid can go 1,100 kilometers on a single tank. I think we're getting off track, said Mr. McMahlow. And what is this product placements and a maths lesson? said Hudson. What's happening to education in this country? Don't worry, said Mr McMahlow. I am not making any money out of product placements. Um but if anyone wants to sponsor me a Toyota Rav 4 hybrid, I've nearly worked it out, said Edsy. If they go back to pick up the key, grandma's they will have to go back meow. Who said meow? said Mr McMahlow. Wasn't me, said Hudson. Wasn't me, said Jacob. Wasn't me, said Sophie. I'm still going, said M Edsey. Um it was 295 kilometres. Um but if they're in the Toyota hybrid RAV 4, they will still have a range of 310 kilometers. Enough with the product placement, said Hudson. Next, Mr. McMarlow will be advertising cat food. Everyone laughed. Okay, said Mr. McMahlo. We've got to finish up the maths lesson. Thumbs up if you understand it, thumbs to the side if you uh kind of get it, thumbs down if you don't know what we're talking about. Whose thumb is meowing? said Mr. McMurlow. It sounds like it's coming from the floor, said Hudson. Everybody was quiet to see if they could hear anything.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Meow.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

It is coming from the floor, said Thomas. Everyone uh stopped uh and put their ear on the floor to see if they could hear it. There was a silence in the classroom for a few moments. Well, you guys can all lie on the floor with your ears on the carpet if you want to, said Mr. McMarlow, but I am going to break. It's morning tea time. Oh, morning tea, said everybody, as they clambered out of the classroom. Well, some of the kids went over to the the edge of the classroom, the corner of the classroom, and there was a door that goes under the classroom where there's sort of a storage space, and there was a door with a lock, uh padlock lock, that went into the storage space under the classroom. And there were some slats, some um you could see between some of the wood through the gaps by the by the door. And the kids were looking through there. What's what's in there? Can you see anything? What was making that meowing noise? Can you see look? What's that? I think I think I can see eyes. Look, no, I can see eyes too. Ooh, it's scary. What is it? Some of the kids got a bit scared and ran away. And some of the kids just kept staring and trying to see the eyes. They were still staring when Mr McMahlow came back from his morning tea break. There's eyes in there, Mr McMahlow. There's eyes in there. Eyes under the classroom. Yeah, yeah, there is. We've got to go under there and check out what it is, said Jacob. Okay, said Mr McMahlow. I suppose we can I don't think we're going to get much work done with all you guys crowding round under looking under the classroom. We should go get the caretaker, said Thomas. Actually it's the property manager, said Jackie. I should know he's my dad. I'll go get him. Okay, thanks, said Mr McMahlow. So everybody um sorted out their bags and their shoes after break time, and then Mr Label, the property manager, came down. Oh, okay. Something under the classroom, said Mr Label. Yeah, said Mr McMahlow, the kids are hearing noises and seeing eyes. Okay, said Mr Label. I did uh have to lock this this morning. I think uh maybe the plumber who was in yesterday forgot to close the door. Wonder if uh some animal is wandered in. Hope we don't have some uh wild tiger or something. He got out his keys and opened the padlock and opened the door, and out came a ginger cat with white streaks. Meow meow meow said the cat, rubbing against the legs of Mr McMahlow and the kids. said Haley. That's the cat that tried to follow me home the other day. Choo Oh yes, you're allergic to cats, aren't you? said Mr McMahlow. Okay, run up to the classroom and we'll have to see what we're going to do about this. I don't think we can have a cat living under the classroom. Oh please, said Sophie. Oh fun to have a cat under the classroom. And what do you think Miss O'Connell would say, said Mr McMahlow. Somebody will go and tell her Mr McMahlow's keeping a cat underneath the classroom. And then what will she say? Um nope, no, we can't do that. Um but it does look very hungry. Um Jackie, you know where the staff room is. Go find some milk and put it in a bowl and bring it back here and we'll give the cat a little bit of bit of food. Then maybe we need to just leave it under the classroom until we can figure out a solution. Okay, said Jackie. Well, Jackie um came back with the milk, and the cat was lapping up the milk like he had never drunk milk before. I know, said Sophie. I know. My mum my mum used to foster cats, and she knows how to look after them. Oh, well that's good news, said Mr McMahlow.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Yeah, yeah, maybe maybe Miss O'Connell could ring up my mum, and my mum could come and help look after the cat.

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Excellent, said Mr McMahlow. You and Jackie head off to the office, tell Miss O'Connell about it, uh and and then come back to class. We've got some reading to do. So Sophie and Jackie rushed up to the office. Shall we try and get Mr McMahlow in trouble? said Jackie. Mr McMahlow in trouble, said Sophie. What do you mean? I mean let's tell Miss Miss Oh Miss O'Connell that he is keeping a cat under the classroom. Okay, said Sophie. Knock knock knock knock. Come in, said Miss O'Connell. Hi, Miss O'Connell, said Jackie. We need to tell you something about Mr McMahlow. Oh again, said Miss O'Connell. He's keeping a cat underneath the classroom. He's what? said Miss O'Connell. Yes, there's a cat underneath our classroom, which Mr McMahlow is keeping under there, said Sophie. Mrs O'Connell Miss O'Connell looked so shocked that the girls just cracked up laughing. Actually, he's not. We think it crept in there the uh last night when the when the door was opened to the storage underneath the class. Mr Label opened it today, and we want to try and help the cat. And my mum, my mum used a foster cat, said Sophie. Can you give her a call and see if she can come down? Oh I see, said Miss O'Connell. Yes, well we can't really have a cat living under the classroom. And so she gave Sophie's mum a call, and Sophie's mum said she'd be happy to come down and look after the cat. So soon she came down um with a special um enclosure for the cat and collected the cat and put it in the enclosure. She also had some cat food, and the cat was chomping down in the food. Oh, I think that cat is really hungry, said Sophie. Well, if you can't find the owner, said Mr McMarlow, we could keep it under the library to catch any mice, because I do not want any more rice mice or cats or mice. I want some cats to keep the mice away from the library. Everybody laughed about that, and then Sophie's mum took the cat over back to her car and drove it off to the vet. Well, later that day, uh when it was home time, everybody was crowding around Sophie's mum. What did you find out? Is the cat okay? What's his name? Did you take it to the vet? Oh calm down, said Sophie's mum. Yes, I took it to the vet, and it was microchipped so the vet could find its owner. Turns out its owner lives on the other side of town. They moved recently, and I think the cat was feeling homesick and wanted to come back to the house where it used to live. Oh said the kids and Jackie and Sophie. But I've taken it back and the owner is very thankful. Oh, so he won't have a cat to catch the mice in the library, said Mr McMahlow. Well that's good for me, said Haley. I don't want to sneeze every time I go to the library to get a book out. The kids laughed about that too. And that is how the kids in room three managed to save a cat that was trapped underneath their classroom. Our next story is going to be about a jinx. Actually a laughing jinx. So we'll hope you'll join us for that one soon. This story was inspired by a time when a cat actually got trapped underneath my house. And we were in our kitchen and we heard the cat meowing and couldn't work out why we could hear meowing from the kitchen until we looked under our house and found a cat had got trapped in there. Luckily we were able to find the owners and they were very happy to have that cat back, just like the cat in the story. Thanks for listening. Bye. Bye.