All Good News

One of the reasons it was such a great summer was because of school.You see I had failed to pass the second grade and the chance to do the year over without any of my new friends knowing well as you can imagine that was a relief like no other.

This brought back a memory that I had forgotten about till just now.

After a pause of about ½ an hour to recall the details I have returned to the keyboard with a lump in my throat to tell all I can remember of the moment.

It was the last day of school down in willow glen and the teacher walked around the class and gave each student a folded paper except me. It was everybody's grades for the year. I was aware that I was failing the class because I couldn't read or write. My mom and I had a few talks about it but I guess I thought it would all work out ok. It dawned on me that minute that I didn't pass.. I don't think I really understood the whole thing. What I did know was that the only things that I was afraid of at that age were my dad and being asked to come up in front of the class and read. I knew I was the only one in our class that couldn't read and I knew I was the only one in the class that was being held back.

The thing was I didn't feel dumb or anything like that I just somehow got it in my head that I didn't need to learn this stuff. I think that I thought their was no consequences for not learning it. Suddenly the lunch bell rang. My seat was next to the door so I just ran out of class across the play ground and field until my hands were clutching the chain link fence that surrounded our school. I burst out in tears as I silently yelled a thousand things at my self.

I sunk to the grass with my head in my knees and a couple minutes later I hear the crinkle of a lunch bag and look up through blurry eyes to see this girl in my class standing over me holding out my lunch. I suppose I was embarrassed because I just shook my head and cried even harder. I don't remember her name now but I knew it back then. We were not friends or anything I just knew her name.

She set it down next to me then she sat down down and didn't say a word she just sat with me till the bell rang. On the way back across the field she put her arm around me and with her little hand patting my shoulder she said you might not read so good but I think you are the best artist in the class. My mommy always tells my brother if he does the best he can that will be good enough and she ran off.

The rest of the day I was lost in thought but I had drawn a picture of a black horse trying to reach some grass on the other side of a fence. When the last bell rang I went to her desk ware she was talking with her friends and put the picture down. As I walked away I could hear the girls looking at the picture. That meant a lot to me because it reminded me that I was good at something. I also realized that I wasn't doing the best I could.