Chose Your Words Wisely

This article was first published in the Cat's Meow, the sister site to my e-zine, Storytime Tapestry under the name of Beware of the Games that You Play.

The year was 1962, and grade I was finally over for the summer. I was no longer in the clutches of the evil Mrs. Appelaize. I was so excited. When we walked into the classroom that last day of school, there was going to be an end-of-year party and we would get our report cards. It was only then that I would know whose class I would be in next year.

Though I was happy to be away from Room 10 and Mrs. Appelaize, I didn't want it to be in Room 9 either. Mrs. Moffat was worse than Mrs. Appelaize, even though that was hard to believe. She was younger and even meaner. Every child was afraid of her;even the ones who had never entered her classroom.

I whined to my grandmother constantly that final month of school about how I didn't want to be in Mrs. Moffat's class. I wanted to be in the other teacher's class. My grandmother hardly sympathized with me and said,

"Your father and your aunt had Mrs. Moffat and they lived through it. As long as you behave yourself and do your work like you are supposed to, it will be just fine."

Well, those words of wisdom did not convince me one bit. Even Renate, who had the nice grade one teacher, was apprehensive.

That last day of class we both were afraid of the outcome. We were far less concerned about how we did on our report cards in terms of our academic standing than we were about which teacher we would be assigned to for the upcoming school year.

Finally the infamous moment arrived; the bomb dropped. I opened up my report card and guess what? I was assigned to Room 9. I waited for Renate at her classroom door once we were dismissed. She too looked forlorn because she was also assigned to Room 9 for the following year as well.

I wondered what we two little girls had done to deserve such punishment. My only consolation was that at least this time Renate was not going to get the nice teacher. Actually, I have to thank my grandmother for reminding me about that. I had forgotten all about the fact that I would be in the same classroom with my only friend.