THE wind was cold again today. It reminded me of what Sister Cecilia told us in grade two, that in March the March winds blow. She said April showers bring May flowers. I wish she was still my teacher. She smiled and laughed a lot. I think she liked us.
When I was in grade two Sister Superior came to our class one day and took Charlie and me away. Charlie likes me, but he didn’t come back to school this year. In grade one he rolled an orange across the table at me. I rolled it back.
Sister Superior told me and Charlie that we were skipping grade two and going into grade three, Miss Finny’s class. Cookie told me later that the grade two class was too crowded, that’s why we had to leave. Cookie stayed in grade two that year. That’s why it’s hard to be best friends with her. We go to different classrooms now.
I didn’t like it in grade three. On my first day, Miss Finny made me go to the blackboard and showed me how to write. She got mad when I couldn’t write “f” the right way. She grabbed the chalk out of my hand and hollered at me. She made me do it until I got it right. Then a boy named Timmy pushed my seat up when I went to sit down. I sat on the floor, and everybody laughed. Tears came to my eyes because it really hurt. But I wouldn’t let them see.
In the dining room after supper I went to see Dorothy and I told her Miss Finny was mean to me. Dorothy, said, that’s nothing. She said in grade three she had Miss Finny for a teacher. Miss Finny used to kneel behind her desk and drink something out of a brown paper bag. They could see the bag come up over the top of the desk. Then Miss Finny would stand up and ask the grade threes if they loved her. “YASS, MISS FINNY,” they sang all together. Then she gave them each a candy.
I guess grade three wasn’t so bad after all. I liked it when Miss Finny asked me to stand up in front of the class and sing Oh Dear What Can the Matter Be. Besides, Sister Cecilia goes to the bathroom. I heard her when I had the flu that time. She thought I was sleeping when she came out of her room. Then she went right into the girls’ bathroom and went. I could not believe my ears.