The next morning, Martha drove Nate and Eric to school, where she could complete their registration and start their first day of classes.
As the three of them walked through the front door, everyone stopped and stared, but the trio just assumed everyone would recognize new arrivals in a small town.
Walking to the main office, the secretary stopped in mid-step behind the counter as she spotted them enter. "Can I help you?" she asked, trying to hide hesitation in her voice.
"Yes ma'am. We just moved here. My husband is headed for his first day of work at the college, so I'm here to enroll our sons in school," explained Martha.
"Oh, how nice," said the secretary, as she found the proper forms and started helping Martha fill them out.
But as the two ladies drew close over the counter, the secretary could not help stopping to take a sniff.
"Is something wrong?" asked Martha.
"No," replied the secretary quickly. "It's just that my sinuses are sensitive to some perfumes."
"I'm not wearing any," replied Martha.
"Well, it could be the boys' deodorant or the soap they used. My husband has to be very careful around me at home," explained the secretary.
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Martha.
"Not your fault," replied the secretary, grabbing a tissue from box on the counter. "Could you please excuse me a moment?"
"Certainly. Take your time," said Martha, as she resumed filling out the forms.
The secretary walked to a door marked PRIVATE and walked inside the Teachers' Lounge, closing it behind her.
Once alone in the other room, she announced to everyone present," We have NORMALS in the building!"
"What?" exclaimed one teacher, dropping her coffee cup.
"I could smell them the moment they walked in," revealed the secretary.
"Who? How?"
"They just moved here. The mother is outside enrolling their children now," said the secretary, as she recapped the situation.
"What do we do?" another teacher asked after the secretary finished talking.
"Go now and start alerting the rest of the staff and faculty. First period classes will begin soon. I'll keep them here as long as I can. Alert the students as soon as you close your doors," suggested the secretary. "We'll have to play it cool until the principal comes in from the district office meeting and can be informed."
"You do realize that they probably won't be staying normal forever," pointed out the teacher who dropped her coffee cup. "Sooner or later at least one of them will have to join one of our groups."
"And we all know who, when, and which are decisions that have to be made naturally. So until then, we lay low," advised the secretary, before she checked her appearance and went back outside.