I’m not great with dates, but April 16 isn’t hard for me to remember. It was the last perfectly happy day of my life. When your world is suddenly upside down, it’s easy to remember the last day you were standing right side up.
The sixteenth was a school day, and pretty much a regular one, except for when Mr. Lester, our teacher, got the phone call for an emergency meeting. I don’t know what kind of emergency meeting needs an English teacher, but Mr. Lester seemed excited about it. He had his stuff packed and was gone in seconds. A few kids were sure we’d get to go home early, but of course that didn’t happen. Instead, Ms. Wooten, the school psychologist, came down to substitute. She was surprisingly organized; she introduced herself and then said, “I’m looking forward to this, so let’s get started! I want you all to make a list of the joys of your life.” Everyone groaned, but there was no choice.
It took her a while to explain what she wanted us to do, and mostly I wasn’t paying attention, but I was glad I heard her say, “Use nice handwriting, because we are going to be hanging these up in the hall.” I don’t know if she was warning us on purpose or not, but a list that hangs on the wall is very different from a list that lives in your binder.
THE JOYS THAT I PUT ON THE HALLWAY LIST
• Friends
• Reading
• Pizza at Fannucci’s
• Riding my bike
• The internet
• Good TV
• Pie
THE JOYS THAT I DID NOT WRITE DOWN ON THE HALLWAY LIST
• Lucy, my best friend in the whole world
• Eating cereal without milk
• PJ Walker books
• Eating and thinking about food