Better late than ever...

Sometime in my third grade year, I was one of 20 young children returning from lunch rather loudly with exciting plans laid. I was also one of the bravest (read stupid) girls - or so I wanted everyone to believe. I'm not sure of the particulars anymore, of who issued the challenge or why only 3 of us took it on - all I know is that feeling of panic and dread that washed over my body as Mrs. Tall grabbed the Spanish-English dictionary from my hands. It was my purple and yellow copy that I used from 1-8th grade. (I never told my mom that everyone else had a red version with larger print.)

Anyways, she, Mrs. Tall, must have been alerted to the goings on as soon as she entered the room. 3 students wide-eyed flipping through their Spanish dictionaries while the rest of the class gathered around giggling and speaking wildly. Aaron, Jesse, and I were marched to her desk individually for questioning. Very calmly she asked me to tell her what I had been looking up in my purple and yellow dictionary. Hah. No way was I budging for this lady. I knew the boys wouldn't cave - and as brave as I pretended to be, I always had a desire to please my teachers and remain in their good graces. She looked at me through those grey eyes that I'm sure could have made Mother Theresa feel guilty. Perhaps I started tearing up, but I wouldn't buckle. I didn't say a word...and neither did any of the kids in my class - perhaps because it had all begun in eight year-old mob mentality in the first place. Before she sent me back to my seat, Mrs. Tall gazed at me steadily and said, "Well, I can't make you tell me what you were doing, but I want you to tell your parents when you get home." Sure I will.

I wish I could have taped not only that conversation, but also the one that followed in my head after my time at the judgment seat.

"Mom, dinner is so good. Dad, please pass the butter. Oh, by the way, after eating my bologna sandwich at lunch today...some of the bad kids...you know, like Tara and Chauncey (hah!) - they thought it would be funny to look up words in Spanish like fish and ball...hmm...oh yes, this meatloaf is good...umm, so yeah - we went back and looked up the word sex, only we couldn't find it see, because the print in my version is so small and we didn't have time and may I be excused please?"

It would have been a blast. Cheerio then.