Why I am a Teacher

Ugh. Yuck. Crust. I’m not eating it. I took tiny bites from the inside of my sandwich, careful to eat every bit of white bread, peanut butter, and cold grape jelly.  The jelly had crystalized on most of the bread, giving the sandwich the most delicious crunch as the sugar first burst on my tongue and then melted away; the purple flavor lingering. Next, yogurt, lemon flavored, my favorite, but there was no spoon packed for me.  I decided to drink it like a milkshake.

“MACKISSOCK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? DON’T YOU KNOW HOW TO EAT LIKE A LADY? DISGUSTING!”

“but, i don’t have a spo..”

“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT LITTLE PIGGY!”

The tears had already started to congeal behind my eyelids.  The red hot embarrassment began at the top of my head and worked its way down my face and into the pit of my stomach.  Why does she always have to be so mean? The tears streamed down my face making my lemon yogurt salty.  I swallowed the last bit and cleaned up my mess. The cellophane from my sandwich crinkled loudly as I got up to throw everything away.  I hated how easily she could make me cry.  The fact that I could not control the tears was more heartbreaking to me than anything she ever said.

Walking back to my seat, struggling to get control of myself I hear...

“MACKISSOCK, GET OVER HERE!!”

I turned to face my tormentor - her face was pink with rage.

“WHAT IS THIS?” She had my crust from my sandwich in her hand and she was shaking it at me - the crumbs flying around the room.

“its my crust,” I squeaked.

“WE DO NOT WASTE FOOD IN THIS CLASS! YOU WILL EAT IT, EVERY LAST BITE OF THIS SANDWICH WILL BE GONE.”

I stood in front of all my classmates, and I looked into their eyes, through my tears.  Some had looks of pity, others were smirking, others still were clearly glad her rage was not directed at them for once.

I stuffed the whole thing in my mouth, choking a bit, crying still.  I wiped my mouth and snot with the back of my hand.

I looked at her and she barked that I could sit down. 

“Please take out your readers and turn to page 54,

Not me, not me, not me, not me...

MACKISSOCK, why don’t you read aloud for us starting at the top of the page...”

“Once upon a time...”