MISS CURTIS (continued)

That is why she gave me a little smile when I very softly and apologetically suggested to her that my grad,e perhaps, should have been 70 and Paul 86.

I wasn’t the happy-go-lucky student. I think I was the struggling student but in spite of that, the little smile that she gave me may account for the fact that I decided to challenge her during one of her lectures on American history. I raised my hand, she hesitated, then said, “Yes, Mr. Lee.” I said, “Excuse me, Miss Curtis, but a few minutes ago you (for example) said 1756 and I think you meant 1656.” “All right, Mr. Lee, the library is just down the hall. Would you go and check that date? You are excused.” I left the room quietly as she continued her lecture. When I returned, she was still lecturing. She stopped as I quietly slipped into my seat. My friend, Paul, was holding his breath to keep from laughing. I stood up and Miss Curtis said, “Yes.” I said, “I’m sorry, Miss Curtis, you were right.” I sat down and she continued her lecture. My friend, Paul could not wait to get through the exit door to have a good belly laugh.

My actions in this class were all out of character. This class and music were the classes that my best friend, Paul, and I had together. He was having a ball. Even though I say my actions were out of character, the two of us were complete opposites. I thought Paul was brilliant. He had no social attributes. I was not brilliant, but was quite comfortable in social situations. I think Paul liked to see how I handled challenging situations. This is what happened. When he put his brilliant, scientific mind to work.

I mentioned before that the class was at 1:00 just after lunch. Miss Curtis was on one of her favorite subjects in American history. The class was very quiet. I happened to get a little drowsy. I put my elbows on the desk and propped my head up. I must have been well into my brief after dinner snooze. I figured that Paul, with his brilliant, scientific mind, went through this kind of exploratory thinking.

I have in my hand a pin. those windows to my left are direct south. The pin in my left hand is pointing south and if I slowly move my hand directly south, the equation would be: ???? and a live body is sitting directly in the path of that pin. At some moment there would be a reaction of unknown force and consequences.

At this point, I feel something piercing my right thigh and next, my chair and I landed in the aisle, my chair on top of me, my books are scattered all over, and the table was on the floor down by my feet. There is dead silence in the room. My first thought, this could be trouble.

I looked up at my friend, Paul. His face was red, either from fright or from holding his breath to keep from laughing. I put the table back in place, then the books. Finally, I put the chair back and sat down. As I looked over at Miss Curtis, she continued where she was when the interruption happened. When the period was over, I went up to Miss Curtis’s desk and said, “I’m sorry.” Miss Curtis said “That’s all right, Lee.” And that was all.

After class, my friend, Paul, was silent for awhile. Then he said, “Project complete.”

Miss Curtis? Well, I think she probably had often wondered what she would do or say if a student challenged her in class. Although it was out of character, I think she loved it. At graduation, she and her friend, Miss Punnington, stood at the auditorium door counting, 1,2,3,go, 1,2,3, go, etc. So that the grads were properly separated as they walked down the aisle. I looked up at her and she smiled.

I would love to place a red rose on her grave.