So somebody took a nickle from the change box. Mrs. Tew was standing there hand on hip, frown on her face.
Justice was coming and now.
Mrs. Margaret Tew was my second grade teacher, her son Bryant was my classmate, her husband B.G.Tew was our principal, their little Boston Terrier was our hall moniter.
Buddy had dubs on being petted. We petted, he lifted his leg wherever a bush was growing.
Buddy slept under Mr. Tew's office desk.
Buddy took treats from Mrs. Ruth and Mrs. Essie, our lunchroom ladies.
Buddy was "The Dawg".
The laws of Tew were strict, understood and obeyed.
Nickles were accounted for.
Mrs. Tew had suffered polio as a child which shortened one of her legs. She walked with a gait that notified everyone she was coming down those hallowed halls at dear old Wallace school.
"She's coming".
Scuffling.............
Just because we were back in our seats and scribbling on Blue Horse note pads didn't fool her one bit. She had been teaching and breaking rogue spirits long before our second grade selves had been born.
This day in particular held a feeling that things were not well with Mrs. Tew. She had the look on her face of deep concern. She stood stiff as she looked at her Elgin, pushed a number 2 pencil into the space of rolled hair at her ear. She looks out through the raised windows to ponder for a moment.
Then......
Mrs. Margaret Bell Tew tells us to write all ten spelling words down while she is gone. She opens the door between our classroom and the teacher's lounge to disappear.
We are a bit discombobulated. Then we smell the smoke of a Viceroy.
We know Mrs. Tew will give us the answers to her misery very soon.
She comes back into the classroom with a firm closing of the lounge door.
Nevrous attention is paid by everyone.
Mrs. Tew folds her arms to walk with a hard slow gait completely around the edge of the classroom.
Old 1928 wooden floors creak beneath her.
Her attempt to cover the Viceroy with Tips has failed again.
Then she stands behind her desk to announce,
"Somebody has taken a nickel from the change box in my desk and it is sticking to their hand like honey dew on cotton".
We all look at others.
"Gasp "......................!
"Now, I don't know exactly when you took that nickel, but it better be back in that box before the bell rings tomorrow morning ".
Long pause......................
"If it isn't returned we won't have our end of school party".
My thoughts were,
"Dang, that ain't fair".
Silence and spectulation and judgemet reigned amoungst our second grade selves that day.
Playground time was spent looking for signs of honey dew on hands and sharing opinions.
One of the lucky few that didn't know squat about picking cotton when the honey dew was sticking asked what it meant.
I stepped up to answer her.
She gave my hands the once over.
She had me pegged guilty by my knowledge of honey dew on cotton.
" Knew I shouldn't have opened my mouth to HER".
That flitched nickel kept us wondering and judging for the remainder of the day.
The next morning Mrs. Tew had our rapt attention as she announced,
" I'm so proud of this class, I found the nickel behind the change box. Guess I must have dropped it there myself". " I'm sorry I thought any of you took that nickel, please forgive me".
We all learned an important lesson that day. First, Mrs. Tew had given us a chance to correct a wrong doing using our own freewill. Secondly she showed us she herself made honest mistakes by snap judgements. But by coming back to confess her own mistake and ask forgiveness showed her human side to us.
We all had a moment to reflect on our own judgements against each other.
I asked the most important question of the day,
"Mrs. Tew do we still get our party"?
Mrs. Tew answered with,
"Yes, Earline ".
Breathe, just breathe.
