Sleepy Eye, Minn.- Hester-Sue’s recent departure from her job at the blind school marks yet another year where some misfortune has befallen the school.
Susan Goodspeed, longtime student of the school, recalls the many unfortunate events she has endured over the years.
“When I first came to the school,” Susan shares, “ it was in Winoka. It was a busy city, but I did enjoy all the stimulation. Anyway, when Mr. Standish bought it, we didn’t know where we could go, but we were excited when Walnut Grove said they had an old big house we could use.”
Unfortunately, moving to that old big house would lead to the unfortunate event the year following.
“I can never forget that year,” Hester-Sue comments. “That fire was really something else. I mean it really was not a usual fire. I touched that door knob when I saw all that smoke and my hand didn’t even get burnt. To this day I can’t believe it. Either that fire was unusual, or I have special skin on my hands, or something.”
As Hester-Sue’s eyes trail off as she ponders the incident, she hastily adds, “Oh, of course the fire was tragic, too.”
Just as the school finally became well-established in Sleepy Eye, the next year’s misfortune came knocking: Adam Kendall regained his sight. While some students note that might be seen as a good thing, it did lead to Adam leaving teaching altogether to become a lawyer–a difficult transition for students living away from home and looking to anything familiar to which they can cling.
“It was around the time that Adam left that we noticed that something bad happened to the school every year,” Susan comments. “We kind of starting just expecting there to be an annual misfortune. Sometimes to pass the time, we try to guess what will happen this year.”
As recently became apparent, this year’s misfortune is Hester-Sue’s departure from her teaching position.
“I was lucky to need no qualifications all these years,” Hester-Sue comments. “Rather than go to school, I’d rather find another job I can do without any special qualifications, and then I’ll probably stay there until they require qualifications, too.”
At press time, Charles Ingalls was overheard commenting that if he had known Adam regaining his sight and becoming a lawyer meant that he would be taking Mary to New York City, he would have gladly knocked him on the head again. Meanwhile, Caroline Ingalls was overstepping her authority by offering Hester-Sue a job at the restaurant without even asking the Olesons first.
