Patrick and Zac and Jordan are sitting quietly so they can think about what they have done.
There was a fire alarm and everyone at Kia Kaha primary school had to go outside and wait in the rain.
But there wasnāt any fire.
It was just Patrick and Zac and Jordan playing a joke with the alarm.
Ms Barry says,
Does anyone else need a towel to dry their hair?
Amelia puts up her hand.
Ms Barry walks over to her with the towel.
Amelia says,
It scared me, Miss.
I was thinking about that fire on the news.
I thought it might be happening to us.
I mean, I know there wasn't any smoke,
and now I know it was actually just Patrick and Zac and Jordan being dropkicks,
but all the same.
Ms Barry says,
Itās a good thing, though, the alarm going.
It tells us if there ever is a fire weāll get a warning and we can get out.
Tane says,
Is it, though, Miss?
Cos wouldn't they have had alarms in the fire in Wellington?
Caleb says,
My Dad says they didn't.
He said there was no sprinkler system and the fire alarms werenāt working.
He said to Mum how can they not have a sprinkler system and fire alarms working in a multi-storey building FFS.
Henry says
My Dad says twenty bucks itās arson, someoneās got beef with someone else and it's all kicked off.
Ms Barry says,
We don't know for sure what happened yet, and why.
Remember what we were talking about the other day?
What do we try not jump to?
Everyone except Jordan says:
Conclusions.
Jordan nudges Patrick and says
Australia.
Ms Barry gives Jordan a look.
Jordan looks down at the floor.
Ms Barry says,
Yes, exactly.
Conclusions.
And this is one of those times.
When something like this happens,
there are people who have the job of finding out what went wrong
And they come back and tell us.
And we might find out that things need changing or fixing.
And some people might find themselves in court.
It all depends.
But the important thing is to find out all the facts first.
Moana says,
We watched it on TV and Mum wasn't saying anything.
But she had tears running down her face.
It felt good seeing all the firefighters, though.
It made me feel safe.
Thomas says,
Yeah, but my grandad said that was the worst bit of all,
they were lucky to have any firetrucks at all,
let alone the right ones for the job.
He said, it's a bloody scandal is what it is.
Ms Barry says,
All the same, we have a system that promises to get to the bottom of things,
and make sure we're safe.
The tough part is that sometimes something really awful has to happen before we find out it needs fixing.
Ms Barry is quiet for a moment.
She wonders if she might tell Room 13 about her friendās classroom in Houston.
Her friendās classroom in Houston has a shooting lockdown drill every Monday afternoon.
But she looks at Amelia drying her hair and she does not want to talk about Houston.
She says,
I want to tell you about a place called Cave Creek.
