It is quiet reading time in Room 13!
It is so quiet you can hear the Tui outside.
It is so quiet you can hear the Fulton Hogan crew.
It is so quiet you can hear old Mr Grant and old Mr Bradbury
standing by the roadworks and counting the cones
and going on and on and on.
But if your book is good, you don't really notice.
You do notice if a cell phone rings on the cell phone wall, though.
The cell phone wall is where you put your phone during class time.
But you can still answer,
if itās about something important.
All the Mums and Dads and caregivers know that itās okay to call,
if itās about something important.
Except for Amelia's Mum and Dad.
That is why Ameliaās phone is on airplane mode.
Everyone knows when their phone is ringing,
because everyone has a different ringtone.
Amy's is Taylor Swift.
Taneās is 21 Savage.
Zac's is a fart.
Everyone laughed the first time Zacās phone rang.
But no one really notices any more.
There is a cell phone ringing!
It is ringing for Kiara!
Kiara answers it.
Kiara says,
Oh my god, Mum, no.
Everyone looks up.
Ms Barry walks over to Kiara.
Kiara hands the phone to Ms Barry.
Ms Barry is talking on the phone in a quiet voice.
She is holding Kiara's hand.
Ms. Barry says to the children,
Just go on quiet reading.
Kiara and I are going to the office.
I'll be back in a few minutes.
Ms Barry has come back by herself.
She says,
Kiara wonāt be back today,
her family has had an emergency.
Sophie asks,
What's happened Miss?
Ms Barry says,
I think I should leave it to Kiara tell you about it.
Room 13 is even quieter now.
But no one is reading their book.
Abi says,
Miss, when we stop having phones at school,
how will we find out if somethingās happened at home?
Ms Barry says,
Well, I suppose someone could come here to school to let you know.
It is quiet again.
Abi says,
Yes, but Miss, what if no-one can come?
Ms Barry says,
The thing about 'what ifs' is you sometimes have to ask 'what else?'.
I expect we'll work it out as we go along.
Moana says,
It's dumb though.
What's wrong with using our phones for, like, finding out netball practice has changed?
Tash says,
Yeah, and what's wrong with using them to Google stuff?
Thomas says,
Yeah, and what's wrong with using them for homework reminders?
Tahlia says
Mum uses it to track me home when she's worried.
Tane says,
Yeah, and how else would I show you my banner from the protest march last weekend?
Tane goes over to the wall and gets out his phone.
He shows everyone a photo of him with a banner.
The banner says,
You want my haka, but you don't want me.
Henry says,
I just hope I don't get a call that Dadās come off the roof.
Heās been up there the last two weeks,
cleaning it and getting ready to paint it.
He says heās had a gutsful of all the stupid.
He says the roof is the best place to get away from it.
Ms Barry is looking out the window
at the trucks
and the cones
and the old men waving their arms.
She says,
Actually Henry,
can you tell your Dad,
if heād like a hand these holidays,
I think I might quite like getting up on a roof for a while.
