“Oh do come in, Anita!” Sarah hollered impatiently. “I don’t have all day you know!”

“Sorry,” Mrs. Lowery said. Finally daring to squeeze past Sarah and sitting in the chair behind her desk.

 “Sorry to keep you waiting,” she said, looking at Sarah.

“I should think so! Mother’s rye bread better not be ruined! Now, what’s the fuss about this time? Did David sort out another boy?” Then she laughed.

“No! Something else altogether!” Mrs. Lowery said. She held out a disciplinary notice that Mrs. Brixton had given to David. Bonnie Brixton was a lunch monitor, whose job it was to catch students doing what they weren’t supposed to be doing. And Mrs. Brixton caught David. Sarah reached out and tore the notice from Mrs. Lowery’s hand.

“Another one of these things!” Sarah said.

When she read it, she found a big black X in the box marked IDA. She looked up at Mrs. Lowery with a puzzled look on her face.

“What on earth is IDA?” she asked.

David leaned over and whispered in her ear. Sarah looked up and burst out laughing.

“Inappropriate Display of Affection!” Then she laughed hysterically. Reading the notice again, she saw that something had been written in on the “Comments” line.

“Making out with Mickey Mason!” she howled.

Mrs. Lowery began to blush and looked rather embarrassed. Sarah finally stopped laughing.

Then she looked up and smiled at Mrs. Lowery. “Well, Mickey is a cutie!”

“Oh, Sarah! That’s hardly appropriate!”

“Oh, just you settle down! He’s a Larimore man! And all the Larimore men are red-blooded! Hah!”

Mrs. Lowery sat looking at Sarah.

“So let me tell you, Anita! It’s plain and simple! It’s a family matter now.”

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Sarah went through the main door. It suddenly occurred to her that Mrs. Lowery might have locked the door that went directly into her office, the one that said “Anita Lowery, School’s Counselor” on it in black letters. But she saw that it was open just a crack, so she ran past Mrs. Larkin’s desk and into Mrs. Lowery’s office. She set it on her desk, and since the light had been left on, she hit the switch on the way out and pulled the door closed behind her. Then she walked toward the main door. Walker had been keeping the best lookout he could, but having to walk from each corner of the hall to the other made it difficult to say the least. Just as Sarah walked through the main door into the hall, Mrs. Lowery and Mrs. Larkin appeared from around the corner opposite to the one where Walker was standing at the moment. Sarah froze when she saw Mrs. Lowery. Then she whirled around and ran toward the corner where Walker was standing. Just as she turned the corner, Walker ran after her.

“Sarah Larimore! You get back here this instant!” Mrs. Lowery yelled.

It probably comes as no surprise that Sarah ignored her instructions and continued running down the hall, with Walker close behind.

“Walker Blaine! You’re in big trouble too!”

But it was too late; they both had already run through the main door to the administrative building, and Mrs. Lowery was not going to chase them. Mrs. Larkin was now sitting at her desk.

“Oh that infernal child!” Mrs. Lowery fumed as she stomped past Mrs. Larkin and toward her office door. “I’ll soon deal with her! And I’ll show Ellen Larimore who’s in charge around here!”

Then she opened the door and turned on the light. Suddenly she screamed, and Mrs. Larkin jumped up and ran into her office.

Anita Louise Lowery- Second School's Counselor

Anita Lowery is the second School's Counselor at Westbridge High, assuming the role after Rose Perkins retires. While attending the school, Sarah and Beryl Ricks are locked in an ongoing feud with each other. Sarah, in stark contrast to Beryl, gets by with little disciplining from Mrs. Perkins. This changes when Mrs. Lowery takes over. She believes that both girls should be dealt with in the same manner. Following a particularly noisy ruckus during the Hour for Physical Well-being, Maintenance of Corporeal Health, and Revitalization of the Female Constitution, also known as girl's gym class, Mrs. Lowery dishes out an equal number of ruler smacks to Beryl and Sarah. Enraged that someone would smack another woman's child, Ellen shows up at school the next day. Anita Lowery finds herself sitting quietly in her office as Ellen shouts angrily at her for over an hour, insults being in German, of course. She includes a stern warning that anyone who has the nerve to strike her daughter will receive a "sorting out." Learning the word from her great-grandmother Winifred, Sarah gives Anita Lowery the nick-name Kröte, meaning "toad" in German. Following Ellen's stroke, when David is attending school, Mrs. Lowery has to deal with Sarah about any issues that arise with David. A usually bold and brash Anita Lowery finds herself considerably intimidated by the even more bold and brash Sarah Larimore. Mrs. Lowery is never sure what she fears most...dealing with Ellen and a possible "sorting out," or dealing with Sarah. David's girlfriend, Lani Kincaid, is constantly clashing with Mrs. Lowery, usually for fighting with other girls and an offense known as "Inappropriate Attire." Anita finds herself taken completely by surprise one day when she is suddenly called to the office of Larinda Mavis to find her chatting away with Ellen. Anita didn't know that Larinda and Ellen are good friends, both routinely cooking food for Church prayer meetings...which are excellent opportunities to swap recipes. Mrs. Mavis told Anita to take a more congenial approach when dealing with Lani. Anita Lowery eventually quit her job as School's Counselor. She and her husband moved away from the town of Westbridge.   

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When Anita Lowery took over, she administered ruler smacks the first time Beryl reported to her office and claimed that Sarah had “thumped” her. This time, Sarah was on the receiving end of the ruler. The next day, Mrs. Lowery found Ellen waiting for her when she arrived at the school for work. Mrs. Lowery was treated to a lecture about the proper station of a School’s Counselor. “Counselor’s counsel,” Ellen told her. “I would think that was obvious! Even you could realize that I should think! Only a wicked woman would strike another’s woman’s child!” Then she laughed. “Such a woman needs a good sorting out in my opinion! Should it happen again, a good sorting out is what she’ll get!” Then Ellen launched into a rather angry speech, punctuated with outbursts in German, including the words Scheusal (“monster”) and Miβgestalt (“ogre”). And those are insults, unless they’re true, of course. Ellen’s speech went on for quite some time. It was the first time any parent had dressed Mrs. Lowery down in such a manner.

“So you see, Anita, dear, I feel confident that you know how to conduct yourself properly. I’m sure this was only a momentary lapse on your part. I’m sure you’re not nearly as much of a Kröte (“toad”) as Sarah says you are. Young girls do tend to exaggerate you know.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Larimore,” Anita said, happy to have survived the one-hour ordeal.