Samples
A Better Place to Grow Up (Chapter 16)
CHAPTER 16
Four-letter words
Mary Spencer missed the promotion ceremony. Somebody had to stay behind to watch the fourth-graders who had been mixed in with the fifth-graders for most of the school year.
For Spencer it was just another tradition that went by the boards this year. She had said her farewells to her fifth-graders on Wednesday amid one of those harried end-of-term days when most textbooks have been packed away, the bulletin boards have been cleared and even teachers like Mary Spencer ease up on the rule of law.
"May I have your undivided attention," she asked. "Kimberly, close the book.
"We're coming down to the end of our association with each other. It will be a joyous thing and a little sad."
"The end of school," she chuckled. "I know some of you better not get in my way come Monday. I'm going to be the first one out of the building.
"Many of you will be going off to different schools. But all of you will be able to tell your grandchildren about this teacher you had in the fifth grade.
"TLC."
"Torture little children," the class murmured in response.
"Everything they told her not to do ...
"... she did," the class finished in unison.
"I may not have been able to teach you to read as well as you might," Spencer continued. "I may have fallen short in teaching you how to add and subtract, multiply and divide. But I certainly didn't fail in teaching you the most important thing in the world."
She spread her arms wide, stifled a sob. "It's something everybody ne eds. Love. You may not want me to love you. But everyone wants someone to love them."
She reached for a tissue.
"The next most important thing is a four-letter word, too."
Some of the children knew the answer.
"Hope."
"I'm going to have to let the fifth-graders go now," she said, wiping away her tears. "You will grow older and change, but always have hope.
"Keep hope alive."
