Flap Jack
Flap jack is a kind old man, a
not so subtle old man, who loves to dance about the streets of his beloved town
of Rosenberg. He dances around the streets with his cherry oak cane and top
hat. He wears a top hat sometimes, but mostly holds it in one hand while he
dances, and wears a black tailored suit of tweed. Happy as can be is he,
nothing can disturb Flap Jack. His coat tails love to dance with the wind,
making a nice flapping noise as he does his peasant jig.
The locals of the town of
Rosenberg think this absurd little man is a drunk by the way he jumps and snaps
his heels together up and down the town streets, singing aloud off key to his
favorite tune. The tune he made up himself:
“Oh, flap, flap in the wind
goes my tails. I’ve no care in this whole world, nothing but me and my tails.”
The tune makes no sense, not even to him, but he loves
to dance free, hop, skip, and sing this tune of nonsense all through the day
anyway.
What many don’t know about
Flap Jack is his love for teaching the children. He has a teaching degree of
English, one he never uses, but oh how he’d love to teach the children one day.
He is sixty-three years old yet no work history is there to be seen on his
resume. There is nothing but an empty slate of carefree space. He spent his
years carefree, happy as can be - skipping, jumping, flipping, hopping - all
the day long, spreading his joy of life to the children that he meets and
greets.
One day as he was passing by
the local High School and noticed there was a sign on the front window of the
administration office that read: In Need of a Replacement Freshman English
Teacher At Once!
Flap Jack shouted out in
excitement “HOORAY, HOORAY, I’LL BE TEACHING TODAY” he then hopped, skipped,
and jigged in a circle, clicking his heels together and making his coat tails
go FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, causing the citizens walking past to stare, but old Flap
Jack did not care.
He entered the administration
office at once, causing a burst of excitement shocks, for everyone knew
seemingly crazy Flap Jack, but they did not know he’d be here today.
He removes his top hat, his
brown head shining in the florescent light. He smiles, his goatee nice and
trimmed, and says in the calmest voice he could muster, “I am here for the
teaching job posted on that window. Please, may I speak to the principle?”
The secretary, wide eyed and
dumbstruck, pointed to the door behind her, the one that read in big letters:
PRINCIPLE’S OFFICE.
Flap Jack jumped up in
excitement, doing a little peasant jig, making his coat tails go FLAP, FLAP,
FLAP, for a few moments, and shouted a loud cheerfully, “Thank you!” and off he
went to the principles office, hopping and skipping the couple feet.
He was about to knock politely
on the door, but as he lifted his fist the door swung open in a hurry.
“Who is making all this
ruckus! People are trying to do their work! Who is disrupting!” the principle
angrily whispered.
The principle was not a
friendly man; he was a man that was pretty bland. He rarely spoke above a
whisper and required others to do the same. His wear was of a dull tan faded
suit. Not quite the kind of suit Flap Jack is wearing, for Flap Jack’s suit
looks new.
“IT IS I, FLAP JACK, AND I AM
HERE FOR THE TEACHING JOB!” he shouts excitedly, forgetting to keep his voice
calm. Calm is not a word Flap Jack knows when he is as excitedly happy as he is
now.
“Keep your voice down!” The
principle sternly whispers. “This is a place of business! Business does not
mean shouting! You must be quiet on these grounds!”
Flap Jack steps back with a
look of horror. He clenches his chest as if he has been struck in the heart.
“Oh, my dear sir, I did not
know this was a place for such silence! I’ll be sure to keep my voice down, but
I warn you. It is impossible for me to when I am as happy as can be,” he said
these words very calmly, but his next words aren’t as calm. “BUT MY QUIETNESS
LASTS ONLY SO LONG, FOR I AM HAPPY ALL DAY LONG!”
Mr. Principle lets out a
grumpy groan and wipes his face with his hand in annoyance. “Fine!” he whispers
in his angry whispering way. “Be as happy as can be somewhere else! No one here
will use the tone of voice as you! So be gone you loud mouth buffoon!”
The words ‘loud mouth buffoon’
made Flap Jack have a laughing fit. A high pitch laugh does Flap Jack have, a laugh
that made Mr. Principle very mad.
“Stop I say! Stop! Stop with
your high pitch of annoying laughter!” But Mr. Principle made an uh-oh. He
shouted these words instead of whispering. He quickly covered his mouth as if
to hide his mistake.
The shout caused Flap Jack to
stop laughing. He looked wide eyed in shock at Mr. Principle.
“You shouted! You broke your
own rule! For breaking that sacred rule, please do give me a chance at the
teaching job!” these words he said were of excitement, but calm.
Mr. Principle had an
expression of annoyance on his face, but he knew he had no choice but to agree
with Flap Jack. This knowledge frustrates him. The frustration of this
knowledge causes him to squint his eyes and stomps his foot while holding back
the shout he wants to let out.
“Fine!” he manages to angrily
whisper. “You are hired. You begin tomorrow morning at eight o’clock on the
dot, don’t you dare be late! The room is in FA 128.”
“HOORAY, HOORAY, THAT MADE MY DAY! I AM SO HAPPY I’LL
BE TEACHING, YAY!” he does a little peasant jig, making his coat tails go FLAP,
FLAP, FLAP as he makes his way out of the building.
That next morning, at eight
o’clock on the dot, he entered the room FA 128, with a skip and a hop.
There he was surprised to see,
the most solemn faces he ever did see. Oh how this made him feel so bad, seeing
these children so sad.
“OH, MY DEAR CHILDREN! WHAT
MAKES YOU SO SAD! ARE YOU NOT TO BE GLAD TO LEARN?”
The children stare at him in
shock, for he did what they were not to do. He shouted at the top of his lungs!
“Mr. Flap Jack sir,” whispers
a young blond girl with curls in the front row. “We are not to shout. This is a
place of learning, and learning does not involve shouting.”
Flap Jack laughs his high
pitch laugh, causing the windows to shutter.
The Children quietly wait for
him to compose himself. He soon does stop laughing.
“My dear children, this is a
place of laughter and fun! This place has no room for silence and tears! For
learning has yet to begun, until there‘s laughter and fun!” with these words he
knocks off the papers that were on his desk. As he dances around the room, doing
his famous peasant jig, he announces, “No grades are there to be found in this
class! Knowledge has no percent, for it is endless! There will be nothing but
music and laughter for now on in this class!”
The children let out a quiet
HOORAY! But Flap Jack did not like that. He encouraged them to shout it louder
by letting out an earth shaking HOORAY!!! And the students immediately followed
suit.
So, for three days fun, music,
and laughter did last. Three days of learning through a musical stomp and a laughing
tune. The students learned their P’s and Q’s even if there was no paperwork or
tests to be found.
The children’s laughter spread
through the school. In those short days the whole school was in a happy loud
laughter and dance, joining in with Flap Jack’s peasant dance.
Everyone was happy, screaming,
singing, dancing in their joy. Everyone except Mr. Principle, he still remained
a whispering grump.
“Flap Jack, you are fired!” He
tells Flap Jack on the fourth day, first thing in the morning as he was
entering the office.
“Oh! But why so! I made the
school as happy as can be! The children enjoy their learning now! Oh, why would
you get rid of me?” Flap Jack cries these words. They were his calmest words
yet.
Mr. Principle did not
budge. He crossed his arms and glared,
saying in his well known angry whisper, “this is a place of business! Business
does not mean shouting! You must be quiet on these grounds!”
Flap Jack left the office with
a heavy heart. His shoulders sagging, his coat tails no longer flapping; they
are now dragging upon the ground. Will Flap Jack now forever frown?
The children were in an up
roar after they heard of the firing of Flap Jack. They screamed “NO, NO, NO! WE
WANT HIM BACK! WE WILL NOT LEARN UNTIL HE’S BACK!”
The students went on strike,
refusing to go back to their classrooms until Flap Jack was back. Even the
teachers did not stop this. On the second day of the strike every one of the
teachers in the school marched to the principles office and demanded for Flap
Jack to be hired again.
The anger of the teachers
helped Mr. Principle to realize his mistake. He now realized how much better
the school really was with Flap Jack around. With this realization, he agreed
to get Flap Jack back. He went out at once to find him.
Mr. Principle went to the City
Park, and there he found Flap Jack, sad as can be, sitting upon a park bench.
He was bent hunched over, his tails almost touching the ground. He had a droopy
frown of sadness that could be felt all throughout town.
Mr. Principle sat down beside
Flap Jack and said pleadingly, “Flap Jack! Please come back to school! You are
hired again! Please bring your laughter and joy back to the school! It is a wreck
without you! I was wrong, you were right! Oh please say you’ll be back! Teach
me the knack of being as happy as you Flap Jack.”
Flap Jack instinctively beamed
a smile that lit up the whole town. He popped up and began to do his hip, skip,
peasant dance, making his coat tails go FLAP, FLAP, FLAP.
“MR. PRINCIPLE, IT IS SO EASY
TO BE AS HAPPY AS ME! JUST JUMP UP, CLICK YOUR HEELS! AND DANCE, DANCE, THE
FLAP JACK DANCE WITH ME! LIKE THIS, YOU SEE?”
So he demonstrates for the
principle. He jumps up, hops, skips, and clicks his heels together singing all
the while:
“Oh, flap, flap in the wind
goes my tails. I’ve no care in this whole world, nothing but me and me tails.”
The principle laughed a joyful
laugh, one of rustic sounding for lack of use, but the longer he laughed the
clearer it got. And as he sang, danced, hopped, and skipped with Flap Jack, his
laugh was as high and loud and clear has his. He and Flap Jack danced the
peasant jig all the day and night long.
The next morning they arrived
at school full of laughter and cheer. The students and faculty were as happy as
can be to see them arriving full of pleasantry.
Since that day the school was
no longer dull and quiet, it was full of laughter and cheer, just like ol’ Flap
Jack.
[Very rough sketch of Flap Jack below]:
