Chapter 19

Thank God It’s Friday

“Friday at last! After last night’s events, I don’t think any other day could be worse,” I said to Julio as we rolled out of bed after only two hours of sleep.

Apparently our instructors did not enjoy our nightly antics. We were severely—how do you say it politely—oh yes, we were severely disciplined. Now, waking from a short, but needed, slumber I feel like I have been hit by a Mack truck. Well more like one of those old steam locomotives. Judging from the grunts coming down the hall, most of class feels the same.

I realize now that today is finals day in our legal course. So on one hand we are in the classroom all day—yay. On the other hand, we are stuck doing book work and taking tests all day. Boo.

I had to shake Julio awake.

“Hey wake up, sleepy,” I said as I shoved him violently back and forth.

“Keep it up, and I’ll beat you bloody,” he said.

We completed our usual routine of getting dressed and making our bed and then we promptly headed down to the courtyard for our morning run. This morning’s run was entirely to taxing on my already worn out body, yet I still finished in the front of the pack. I was very pleased with myself, and thus cheered up quite quickly.

Now with my day looking brighter, we concluded our morning jog back in front of the barracks just like every morning. We completed our morning routine of breakfast and showers and then we were off to the classroom to take our legal exams. This would be a long day.

We spent the first part of the day reviewing the material that we covered over the previous two weeks. We crammed everything we could into the five hours leading up to the testing. Everyone in the class was in a surprisingly good mood except for my roommate.

You see Julio is a very smart man. By all standards, he is wise beyond his years, but he had a very difficult time retaining the amount of information that we were required to learn. Some claimed that it was his old age; after all he was twice my age. I, however, thought it more likely that he just struggled with the stress of trying to learn the material and manage being away from his family. I spent our breaks in between lessons trying to help him out as much as I could

“How are you holding up, buddy?”, I asked.

“I will make it I guess, but I am really having a hard time with remembering the material. It pretty much escapes my brain as quickly as it goes in my brain,” Julio said.

I responded, “Well, try to associate the topics with something from your own life or stories that you may have heard. Try keywords or any other things that you are likely to remember. That’s how I remember things. Also, try to stay calm and skip the questions if you don’t know the answer. Another question may help you remember the answer to a question you skipped. You can always go back later.”

“Thanks, but if I can’t remember the answers and material that we have been learning for two weeks, what makes you think I can possibly remember your tips?”

“Good point, Julio,” I said, laughing.

After five hours in the classroom, we broke for lunch. Lunch was silent as everyone contemplated the testing coming up. I had to participate in the testing as part of the academy class; however, I had already passed the state law enforcement exam and was already certified, so I wasn’t to terribly worried about it. There were seven of us that came into this class that were already certified. That eased our tension, but you could see the unease on the faces of my classmates as we ate our lunch. After lunch, we all filed upstairs and took some time to compose ourselves before the testing began.

After composing ourselves and having numerous little pep talks, we all filed back downstairs and began the ritual of filing into the classroom. We sat at our desks as the instructors explained the rules for testing. The tests were passed out and the session began. We were given three hours to complete the test. Of course there were seven of us who finished within the first hour; however, Julio used all three hours to finish his test. He walked out with a frown on his face. He appeared defeated.

“What’s wrong, brother?” I asked.

“It took me way too long to finish the test,” Julio stated.

“Well, really it doesn’t matter how long the test took. All that matters is how well you do and how high you score.”

I tried to appear upbeat about the situation, but I think I was more worried about how he did than he was.

After the testing was completed and everyone exited the classroom, we were instructed, by Lt. Hudson, to wait in the hall while the tests were graded. This seemed to drag on for an eternity. As we sat in silence, the time seemed to go slower and slower. Finally, after about an hour, Sgt. Martinez called us back into the classroom. We filled the classroom once more and sat our respective desks.

As I sat down, I noticed a sheet of paper lying facedown on my desk. It was the backside of our answer sheets. After everyone had sat down, we were instructed to turn our answer sheets over, revealing our test scores. Eighty percent was the minimum passing grade. As I viewed my score sheet, I noticed a 98 percent printed in the upper-right hand corner printed in red. I was hoping for a perfect score, but I will take it.

I looked across the table at Julio and saw a wide smile spread over his suntanned face. I wasn’t able to communicate with Julio, but judging by the look on his face, I assumed he did pretty well. This was confirmed when Lt. Hudson stood at the podium.

“Everyone passed. The lowest score was a ninety percent. That is one of the highest passing averages of any class that I have taught or that passed through this academy,” Lt. Hudson said.

After reviewing the most missed answers on the test, we were told that we would be released to go home for the weekend, after dinner of course.