Harriet Cooper stared at the scuffed toes on her shoes. Her stomach coiled in knots as she stood outside the principal's office and stared at the name on the brass plaque attached to the door: Mrs Notgoodenough. The principal’s pinched lips, permanently lined with red lipstick, fronted a stern face. Mrs Notgoodenough. Nothing was ever good enough for her. An appropriate name for a tough principal who didn’t seem to like kids. She certainly had never liked Harriet. Why Harriet wondered, was she even in the job?

Harriet’s class had been on a school trip to an old gold mine. An extraordinary experience had occurred, and Harriet found herself in possession of something valuable, which had been promptly confiscated from the teacher upon the student’s return. Guardian angel, please help me, she silently pleaded.

Momentarily, the supercilious deputy principal, Miss Crankpot, appeared at the door to escort Harriet into Mrs Notgoodenough’s office. Harriet nervously shuffled along behind her, knowing that she didn’t like children either. Miss Crankpot ushered Harriet in and ordered her to stand in front of the principal’s desk.

The principal’s face seemed sterner than usual if that were possible. She rested her hand on top of a gold nugget, peering over the rectangular blue rim of her narrow glasses, her jaw square and angular chin jutting forward.

“Tell me what happened on the school bus trip, Harriet,” she said in her quiet, threatening way.

Harriet gulped. The principal had spoken to the teacher, Jack Speechly. Surely, he would have explained or tried to explain, the unexplainable.

“Well,” she replied. “The bus was travelling along the highway to the Central Gold Mine. I was reading out loud to my friend Will from our class history book about the mine and a gold nugget that went missing and was never found. The bus driver’s GPS said to turn left. Mr Gates said it didn’t seem right, but he turned left anyway. As we drove along, suddenly, everything changed.”

 “What exactly do you mean?” the principal continued. “Mr Gates is the new driver, right?” Harriet nodded.

“All the modern road signs and houses disappeared. The trees changed. And so did the road. It turned into a steep rocky dirt road that dropped down. When the bus got to the bottom, Mr Gates called “Everyone out!”  Nobody knew what was happening, but the bus had a flat tyre. Then we saw the entrance to the mine. It looked pretty new, not a hundred and sixty years old.” Harriet stopped and took a deep breath.

“Go on,” muttered Mrs Notgoodenough.

“Well, some men came out wearing really dirty clothes. They had pickaxes and other tools. They wandered off, but one man stopped and looked at us and the bus strangely like we were from outer space. He asked who we were and where we came from and Mr Speechly told him, but he didn’t believe it. Mr Speechly asked him what the year was, and he looked at Mr Speechly as if he was crazy. He said, ‘What do you mean, man?’ It’s 1863. Where have you been?’ Mr Speechly couldn’t believe it, either.”

“Then what?”

“The man said he was going to tell the others about strangers arriving at the mine and that we shouldn’t be there. Everyone was worried there would be trouble. He left and Mr Gates set to replace the tyre with Mr Speechly’s help. The kids started to wander around, but Mr Speechly told them to stay where they were.

“But you obviously didn’t,” said the principal grimly, lowering her chin and staring piercingly over the rim of her glasses.

“Well,” Harriet continued. “I wandered around to the right side of the mine entrance just a bit. I was looking for a cool rock to take home for my collection. There was one sticking up from the top of a hole. It was just what I wanted, so I put it in my bag.”

“I’m fascinated,” the principal replied in a dry, fake voice. “Go on.”

“After the bus was fixed, Mr Speechly loaded us all back inside and said he was sorry about our trip, but we had to leave. Mr Gates turned the bus around, just as a lot of angry men came running up behind, but they couldn’t catch up.” Harriet drew another breath. “As the bus drove back up the road, everything changed back again to the way it was when we left school. When we got back, everyone was confused about what had happened. I took the rock out of my bag. I washed it under a tap in the playground, but it wasn’t a rock. It was a gold nugget that was covered in a stack of dirt. I showed it to Mr Speechly. He said that he thinks the mine people might give me a reward for finding it.” She bit her lip before continuing. “Mr Speechly wanted to show it to you and try to explain our unexplainable trip.”

“Well now,” the principal continued. “It appears from what I know about the mine’s history that this nugget has been missing for well over one hundred years. It’s a deep mystery. And somehow, you managed to come across it. I don’t know how you did it, but here is a warning. As this item was discovered on a school trip, you are not entitled to keep it. Do I make myself clear?”

Knots danced again in Harriet’s stomach. “But Mr Speechly said….” Harriet was cut short.

“He’s not in charge here. I am. You can return to your teacher now and I will make a decision later.”

As Harriet wandered dejectedly along the corridor past the school office, hearty laughter chortled from behind. It was coming from the principal’s office, and Harriet wondered what was so funny. She stopped and craned her neck to hear what was being said.

“Just think what we could buy with this,” Mrs Notgoodenough said. “Brand new offices for both of us and some new equipment for the school.” Harriet’s anger burned. If she wasn’t entitled to it, neither was anyone else. “This isn’t right,” she exclaimed under her breath and clenched her fingers tightly into her palms. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. “Guardian angel, I need you right now!”

Unexpectedly, her thoughts were interrupted.

A series of thuds followed a tumultuous crash. Shrieks came from the direction of Mrs Notgoodenough’s office. The whole building vibrated. Through the principal’s office doorway, a brilliant flash of light cracked. The sky outside her window became an ugly shade of purple, obscuring the sun and the room filled with dust. Harriet crept forward and pushed the door open.

Mrs Notgoodenough’s desk collapsed, and the legs melted. Her prized jumbo coffee mug flew up into the air as though it had wings, then propelled itself down onto the floor, breaking into two. Next was the desktop computer, which exploded with an iridescent yellow flash. The doors on the huge glass cabinet along the wall shattered in a dozen different directions. Outside in the staff car park the horn on Mrs Notgoodenough’s SUV blared.

A bulky book on the desk burst into flames. Trophies and awards hanging on the wall came crashing down. One of the office staff ran to fetch a bucket of water and doused the flames on the book. As she stepped back, frames that held portraits of past principals on the wall propelled themselves to the floor, the glass smashing into a million pieces. Miss Crankpot screamed as the ornate light fitting overhead suddenly dropped, narrowly missing both her and Mrs Notgoodenough. The buttons on her white uniform popped open, her wide brown belt unbuckled itself and crashed to the floor, the large metal buckle barely missing her ankle. She ran from the office clutching her clothing to her chest. Mrs Notgoodenough’s sensible suit jacket and skirt rapidly started to shrink, squeezing her frame tightly. The bun on the top of her head collapsed, plastering long thin strands of hair to her face. She tried to push it back angrily. Her brilliant red lipstick melted and ran down her face to her chin. She looked like a circus clown. An African spear, collected on her overseas travels, launched itself across the room, and embedded itself into the opposite wall, narrowly missing her head.

The wall panelling pulsated as hundreds of beetles appeared out of nowhere, turning the walls into a shiny, seething black mass of legs and wings. The principal screamed again. She hated beetles. They flew off the walls and two oversized black insects attached themselves to her glasses. The lenses cracked under their weight. She charged for the door and ran into a gargantuan spider web that had appeared out of nowhere. Covered in spider web silk, she fled the office, gasping for breath through the tight clothing and smothering beetles. Glasses broken, she clutched at the air, attempting to move forward.

Chaos exploded. School office staff frantically ran around, trying to assist. In the ruckus, Harriet spied the nugget on the desktop. Maybe she could just run in and grab it. Mrs Notgoodenough turned around to face Harriet, ripping the glasses from her face.

“You!” she gasped. “This has to be your fault. No other explanation. Take the cursed nugget and get out of here!” Harriet scooped up what was rightfully hers and tucked it beneath her jacket. Almost immediately, something else unexplainable happened.

The shuddering stopped as the sound of tinkling glass could be heard. Harriet crept back down the hallway and stood outside the principal’s office, unable to believe her eyes. The glass cabinet was restoring itself, along with the crystal collection inside. The framed portraits came back together and rose into the air, re-attaching themselves to the wall. The light fitting repaired itself and ascended once more to the ceiling. Trophies and awards miraculously returned to their former positions. Mrs Notgoodenough’s desk groaned as the legs returned to their proper shape and lifted the desktop once more into its correct position. The computer made bizarre bleeps as it re-assembled, without even a blemish in the screen, and restored the page which had been open. Everything reverted in a few brief moments, and the car horn stopped. Brilliant sunshine erupted. Mrs Notgoodenough and Miss Crankpot’s clothing was restored. The principal’s glasses were as new, and the large spiderweb had vanished.

Mrs Notgoodenough addressed Harriet and the office staff through clenched teeth.

“I will say nothing of this. And neither will any of you. Miss Crankpot will keep it to herself as well. Harriet Cooper, take the nugget to Mr Speechly and see what his course of action will be. As for us, Miss Crankpot and I shall now resume our normal duties.” Her face looked anything but normal, now a deadly shade of white. She entered her office and shut the door with trembling hands.

Harriet’s mood transformed. She sought out Jack Speechly and advised him of the principal’s decision. He rubbed his hands together.

“Well, well, fancy having a win over that tough old woman. Seems as though fate meant you to find this nugget. I’ll get in contact with the mine and ask them what to do. The only thing is, we’ll have to come up with some explanation as to how you found it.” He paused. “I’ll take it to the office now and it can be locked in the safe until everything is sorted.”

Harriet smiled to herself. She was sure, with her vivid imagination and the teacher’s great communication skills, they could hit upon something.

“Yes, Mr Speechly,” she answered as the bus pulled up in front of the school. “See you tomorrow.”

Her friend Will was bursting to know what had happened. Harriet smiled again before answering.

 “Mr Speechly and the mine owners are in charge of what happens now, but I’ll probably get a reward.”

“But how can you….” Will began.

“Oh, I’m not worried. We’ll come up with some explanation. Let’s just say it’s all good,” she replied. “Astonishing. A bit unexplainable, maybe. But good.”

Harriet looked at the clouds as she left through the front door. Thanks, guardian angel, she offered silently. I can always rely on your help, especially with the strange and unexpected. Now, please, help me to explain it to my family!